Remnants of the Daleks: When Worlds Collide
by Anguirus111
Summary: A girl without a past, a Doctor consumed by his, a former companion before they became one, and a black Dalek named Sec are all on a crash course with the legacy of an event known as the Time War.
1. Of

Time Tunnel: The TARDIS tore through the time-space continuum moving faster and faster with each passing moment. Inside the Doctor ran about the console pressing switches and throwing dials as he tried to make up for the time he had lost dealing with that Runaway Bride.

"Come on Sec, where are you?" the Doctor seethed as he examined various readouts. He had thought the Dalek had been sucked into the Void along with the other Daleks and the Cybermen who had made Torchwood and most of London a war zone not too long ago. However, as he had been idly scanning time and space in a vain effort to try and contact Rose Tyler, his recently departed companion, his scanners had picked up the remnants of a temporal shift, specifically one involving Dalek technology. Though he had no proof it was Sec, the Doctor knew it had to be him. He and the Daleks had a connection these days as only long time mortal enemies could. The humans had a saying: 'Keep your friends close and your enemies closer', with the Doctor and the Daleks that didn't even come close to their relationship but it was the best analogy he could come up with that even he could comprehend. The Daleks had called him: _Ka Faraq Gatri_, the Destroyer of Worlds, the Doctor could think of a number of words for the Daleks none of which were proper to repeat, but it was the same effect. The Daleks destroyed worlds and the Doctor and his fellow Time Lords had done the same. Throughout time both had engaged in open temporal warfare that both referred to as the last great Time War. In the end Gallifrey and Skaro had both been wiped out and the Daleks seemingly destroyed as well taking the Time Lords with them. The Doctor had been responsible for that, not by choice mind you, but he had been responsible for it.

Though he had hoped that would be the end of the Daleks, he had been wrong and in retrospect he shouldn't have been surprised. When he had encountered that Dalek in Nevada he had been…upset would be the best way to put it. The Doctor had done things he wasn't proud of, he had become 'a Dalek' so to speak and had reduced himself to a state he had thought he had moved past when he'd regenerated from his eighth to his ninth body following the War's conclusion. The experience had been a real eye opener to him and he knew were it not for Rose's intervention that he likely would have reached a point he could not have returned from. Yes he had been responsible for the destruction of countless Daleks during the war, but he had never murdered one in cold blood before, indeed he had never murdered anyone in cold blood to his knowledge. The Doctor had been so grateful to Rose that day that he solemnly vowed that no matter what happened to him, he would keep her safe above all else. It was this vow that had caused him to recklessly endanger his own life in an attempt to save her from, what else, the Daleks. No matter how hard he tried, no matter what lengths he took, they always came back and it was starting to wear down on his sanity. But thankfully he didn't make the same mistake twice and when the Delta Wave plan first became clear that it wouldn't work he had sent Rose away as the Daleks exterminated everything in sight. Once again Rose had saved the Doctor and disposed of the last surviving Daleks and with it the Doctor's ninth persona and he was finally able to let go of the accursed Time War.

With his new and improved Tenth Incarnation he and Rose had embarked on a series of adventures that had even briefly reunited him with a pair of old friends further helping him forget the Time War and put it behind him. True he had encountered the Cybermen, but they were a manageable threat, and he and the individuals of that alternate universe had managed to put them away with far fewer casualties than normally followed Cybermen encounters. But he his cheer and joy proved to be short-lived after that. When the demon he had encountered on that forsaken world on the edge of the black hole had predicted Rose dying in battle, the Doctor had tried to comfort Rose that he was making it up. But deep down, he knew. He knew a storm was coming but he didn't know in what form it would take.

Perhaps the idea that a storm was coming at all should have tipped him off, but he once again vainly believed that they were gone, that they couldn't come back, not after what Rose had done to them. When the Cybermen had finally shown up again the Doctor had secretly been relieved, at least he could deal with them. But the Void Ship was a real mystery, one the Doctor couldn't place, and couldn't easily dismiss. Then when the Cyberleader told him the sphere was not theirs, he knew. He couldn't see them, he couldn't hear them, he couldn't even confirm they were there, and indeed he tried to briefly deny it, but he knew. He knew the Daleks had returned and that whatever threat the Cybermen posed to the planet Earth now paled in comparison. So he was not surprised when the two Cybermen sent to investigate the Sphere Chamber sent back an image of Dalek Thay appearing in that doorway. He also knew Rose was in all likelihood, dead. The Daleks would've killed her the second they emerged from that sphere along with anyone else in that room. When Jackie commented on Rose's fear of the Daleks, something inside the Doctor momentarily snapped and he demanded Jackie's phone. When Rose, surprisingly picked up, the Doctor did feel a bit of momentary relief but he coldly knew that the Daleks would only have kept her alive if they needed her and for whatever purpose that was he knew it was something terrible. When one of the Daleks on the other end mentioned the Genesis Ark, he knew that must've been it, but what it was he had no clue. In an attempt to do something productive he had put on his 3-D void glasses and noted how the Cybermen and Dalek were all covered in it. That gave him the workings of a plan but he had no way to implement it. Then hope intervened and he found himself back in that alternate universe of before, a universe apparently without Daleks for which he was grateful, before being deposited back in his own universe and agreed to an unholy alliance with the Cybermen to defeat the Daleks once and for all. Things seemed to be going well and when he entered into the Sphere Chamber to finally confront the Daleks he felt a sense of melancholy, perhaps even giddiness at meeting his mortal enemy one final time. He had met up with Rose and Mickey and he and the Daleks had a brief discussion about the Time War when he mentioned one his sadder memories of the war, the fall of Arcadia, and it was all going to plan as he knew the Daleks and Jake's soldiers were steadily surrounding the sphere room. The Genesis Ark was a bit of a mystery but one he knew he could solve once these four Daleks were disposed of. But whatever happiness he had felt was shattered when the four Daleks had revealed that they were the long rumored but rarely seen Cult of Skaro.

During the war the Cult of Skaro had been responsible for outthinking the Time Lords and deducing their strategies and as much as the Doctor hated to admit it, they had succeeded brilliantly. The Cult's plans and strategies had killed scores of Time Lords on a consistent basis during the war. It got to the point where they were more of a priority for the Time Lords than even the Emperor. The Time Lords managed to corner the Cult near Alpha Centauri and thought they had finally managed to dispose of them when the Cult didn't emerge from the barrage from the fleet of bowships. But like they had been wrong with the Emperor so too had they been wrong with the Cult and the Doctor couldn't help but wonder what other detrimental secrets the Time War would reveal that would drive the Doctor insane. The Doctor knew the Cult was a problem and that even if a million Cybermen poured through that door it would make no difference. The Cult would exterminate them all without a second thought and that whatever modification he had made to the Cybermen rifles would accomplish nothing. So he blew open the doors without a second thought and did the only thing possible, he fled. Mickey accidentally laid his hand on the Genesis Ark but there was little the Doctor could do to stop the Ark from activating as the Daleks and Cybermen were at war with each other in there and the Doctor had no desire to get himself killed while the Daleks were still loose in the galaxy. Though he had told Mickey that he had done them a favor, his inner voice said they might've been better off had the Daleks actually blown up the sun, then death on Earth would have been instantaneous and the human race wouldn't have had to face the crushing demoralization most races felt when they found they could not even defeat a single Dalek.

So they had run away as Sec and the Cult exterminated the Cybermen before proceeding to exterminate even more Cybermen. When Jackie and Pete had met for the first time, the Doctor did feel a bit of happiness for them, but blast it didn't they know there was a war going on that could potentially destroy both of their worlds? If there's one thing humans are good at it's forgetting that the world doesn't revolve around them and that time doesn't stop just because they're having an 'apple pie' moment. Someone has to solve their problems and surprise, surprise they always expect the Doctor to fix everything. He needed a vacation but he hadn't had one in nearly 200 years and that had been wrecked by the Sontarans. How the Doctor hated his morals at times, and when the Genesis Ark opened and millions of Daleks came spewing out of it, the Doctor had to reluctantly admit that for one millisecond he'd been tempted to just say 'game over man, game over' and throw in the towel and just leave. But there were Daleks and the Doctor was the only one remotely qualified to deal with them so he silently resigned himself to his task. In the end he used the Daleks own mechanisms against them by sucking them all back into the cracks in the Void that they had opened up in the first place. But it had come at a great cost. Rose was now gone. His one constant companion since the Time War, the one whom he had opened up to about the Time War and the fate of Gallifrey, had been torn from him trying once more to stop the actions of the accursed Daleks. He had at least the chance to say goodbye before it got cut short but still, her absence like those of all of his companions left a hole in the Doctor's heart that constantly made him question the sanity of even taking companions on in the first place. But even he didn't have time to dwell on this as an unwanted visitor in the TARDIS warranted his attention and one adventure later he was finally alone to himself. …And then he had found Sec's temporal trail and found himself where he was now.

"_I'm going to find you Sec, and I'm going to finish this Time War once and for all one way or another_," the Doctor swore as he flipped another switch and the TARDIS continued on down the time stream.

1968: 16 year old Kalenda Savrod packed her books like she always did for school and straightened her school uniform in the mirror. She sighed deeply as she looked at the image staring back at her. Blonde hair, dark eyes, perfect complexion, she looked like she shouldn't have had a care in the world, but this couldn't have been farther from the truth. Though on the outside her life seemed perfect, on the inside she was hurting. She wasn't very outgoing, never had been, she felt she couldn't connect with anybody. Even when she managed to find someone who shared the exact same interests as her, she felt this nagging sensation each time that this individual was…beneath her. Maybe it was because she was adopted, she didn't know. She also couldn't explain why, but she also knew that somewhere out there, something was awaiting her. Something that could explain who she was, where she came from, who her real family was because although she had no sense of ill-will towards her foster parents she found she could simply not connect with them and she didn't know why either. Whoever held her answers, she knew they were out there and one day they would come and find her. And somehow she knew that day would be soon. …Or so she hoped. But she knew she couldn't dwell on such thoughts, it would distract her from her schoolwork. Schoolwork that would allow her to someday assume control over these…

"Well, well, well, what have we here?" said a voice jarring her from her thoughts. She had been so engrossed in her thoughts that she had failed to notice that she'd left her house and walked down the street before being faced by two females approximately her same age.

"Looks like we got ourselves a trespasser," said the other female as they circled Kalenda. Kalenda knew them both, they were the school bullies and they liked to pick on the loners of the school, perhaps to make themselves feel better since they only had each other as friends and that was because they were twins. Kalenda just glared at them behind her dark sunglasses but otherwise remained passive towards them. 'Violence beget violence' she remembered as one time she had fought them and only regretted it later as they had given more than they had gotten. But that incident had only further drawn their ire and so they picked on her more so than the other loners out there. To this end Kalenda was steadily training herself into a deadly weapon so nothing would ever stand in her way ever again. But she still had yet to reach the level where she could take them both and so had to endure their constant torment at least once a week.

"Then deal with it and don't waste any more of my time," she said darkly at the two of them. The two girls reared back briefly at that statement before continuing their circling of her.

"You talk tough but can you act tough?" asked the first girl, Thalena.

"Yeah," chimed in her lackey, Lathena. Kalenda passively consulted her watch before looking up at them.

"I don't have time to act tough I have to get to school," she said.

"Oh yes, school the place of brainwashing for the masses," said Thalena disgusted. "Let's get this wrapped up so we're not late."

"If you want to be left in ignorance please don't let me stop you," said Kalenda with a mild grin. That was the final straw for the two girls as the both began rubbing their fists angrily. Kalenda merely shut her eyes and clenched her fists and braced herself for the oncoming barrage. But the attack never came as a massive bright light filled her darkened vision.

"What the?" she could hear Lathena ask.

"Hey buddy, it's a little early for Halloween isn't it?" said Thalena. Whoever they were apparently talking to didn't speak and Kalenda would've thought they were bluffing that there was someone else there if she couldn't hear a strange soft mechanical whirring noise.

"C'mon say something stupid!" shouted Thalena. Still no response from whomever they were talking to.

"Forget it, it must just be a joke," said Lathena.

"Yeah, let's just finish what we came here to do," said Thalena cracking her knuckles. Kalenda braced herself as best she could when suddenly whatever they were talking to spoke up.

"EX-TER-MI-NATE!" shouted the being. An indescribable sound was heard followed by a scream and then silence. Kalenda stood there in silence for several moments as she frantically tried to figure out if she was still alive or not. After a couple moments of hearing her own breathing and heavy beating heart she cautiously and slowly opened her eyes. What she saw defied belief as Thalena and Lathena were both lying on the ground, dead or alive she didn't know, but behind them stood the strangest thing she had ever seen. It was tall and primarily cylindrical on top with a large blocky base and completely pitch-black. It had a strange shaft emerging from the top of the dome on top of its head and on its 'torso' it had a plunger and a strange silver protrusion. The 'creature' was apparently looking at Thalena and Lathena as if admiring its handiwork and took no immediate notice of Kalenda. As soon as it 'sensed' she was looking at it, the stalk on its head maneuvered to look straight at her. The two stared at each other in silence for several moments as a light wind passed by blowing the nearby leaves.

"Th-thank you," said Kalenda, almost speechless for once in her life, to the creature. "But, but why did you save me?"

Kalenda as she looked at the thing. The creature said nothing it just looked away back at the two other bodies and then back at her as if even it didn't know. It's mind apparently made up after a couple moments it then turned to leave.

"Wait!" protested Kalenda as the thing stopped after hearing her voice. "What are you?"

The stalk turned to the side as if eyeing her out of the corner of its eye before spinning forward as the entire device took off into the sky leaving behind a stunned Kalenda. It took the girl a couple moments to realize what happened hadn't been a dream before realizing what time it was and tore off for school still in a mild state of shock.

I.M. Forman Scrapyard: A cranking noise was heard as a blue police box appeared from out of thin air. An instant later the door opened and the Doctor stepped out while consulting his sonic screwdriver.

"Remnants of an energy beam discharge, looks like I'm already too late," said the Doctor sadly. As he exited the yard he was immediately run into by a blonde girl who looked at him with an expression of shock and confusion before she kept running. The screwdriver went off indicating that she had been touched by the residual energy of a nearby energy blast. The Doctor raised an eyebrow curiously but the girl was gone from sight. The Doctor placed his hands into his pockets and walked off the way she had come in search of the blast as if Sec was here, he'd certainly be making his presence known. Daleks never were one for subtlety and he half expected to see a rush of people fleeing from whatever destruction Sec was likely causing.

"_But why here and why now?_" the Doctor couldn't hope but wonder. Out of all the places Sec could've chosen the Doctor couldn't fathom the answer. The only thing that immediately came to his mind was an adventure with his seventh incarnation that had taken place three Earth years ago, an event which precipitated into the Time War. But Sec would've known better than to risk tampering with that event. The consequences could potentially destroy the entire Space-Time Continuum and the Doctor knew things weren't desperate enough for Sec to resort to that option. Yes he was one lone Dalek, but still one Dalek was still a large threat. The Doctor shuddered as memories of that fateful day when a Dalek Supreme, like Sec, had appeared in the Council Chambers of the Time Lords on Gallifrey and proceeded to exterminate nearly every member of the High Council. Only his timely arrival had allowed Romana to escape but still seeing that Dalek hovering over the dead remains of the Council had both chilled him to the bone and nearly caused him to loose it. Only Romana's advice had brought him back from the brink, but what would happen now? Rose was gone, he had no companion to voice his thoughts too, and that scared him more than anything. As he had told Brother Lassar, he used to have so much mercy, but after more than 1000 years of living, his joy and wonder regarding the universe slowly faded. He had gone from an intrepid explorer to a lonely god and it was times like these when he was all alone that the reality of his situation caught up with him. And without Rose he had no one to talk to and for that Sec was also going to answer for.

HONK! HONK! HONK!

The sound of alarms and horns jolted the Doctor out of his reverie as emergency vehicles raced past the Doctor and continued on down the street. The Time Lord quickly consulted the readings on his Sonic Screwdriver before chasing off after them.

Crime Scene: By the time the Time Lord had reached where the vehicles had stopped, the area was already taped off with a small crowd gathered watching the event. The Doctor wormed his way through them until he stood right at the tape and watched as a pair of stretchers rolled past with a pair of teenage schoolgirls on them surrounded by paramedics. The Doctor eyed them quizzically before taking out his Sonic Screwdriver and flipping it on. The device indicated that a massive energy surge had taken place recently on this spot, one of Dalek design.

"So Sec was here," the Doctor seethed as his grip tightened heavily on the screwdriver to the point that his knuckles began whitening. He forced himself to calm down and put his screwdriver away as he witnessed the police investigating the scene.

"I can only wonder what did this," he overheard one of the investigators mention to their fellow officer.

"Try little green blobs in bonded polycarbide armor," the doctor commented wryly to himself as he crossed his arms.

"There has to be more to it than that!" shouted a voice. The Doctor and the others looked over at a young woman who couldn't have been more than twenty, pressing a police officer for information while carrying a pencil and a notepad, evidently a reporter of some kind. The Doctor would've shrugged her off had he not wanted to know what the police knew as well about what had happened so he figure he should take as much advantage of the situation as possible.

"What's going on here?" asked the Doctor as he stood just behind the woman facing the officer. The woman looked at him confused before looking at the officer.

"Nothing is happening here," said the officer. "Now please leave."

"Don't you want to rephrase that question officer?" said the Doctor with mock authority as he held up his psychic paper indicating his position with the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce stunning the woman.

"Yes sir!" said the officer saluting. "But shouldn't we discuss this in private?"

The look on the woman's face silently pleading with him for information nearly made the Doctor crack a smile for the first time since Rose's 'death'.

"I see no harm in discussing this with her," the Doctor answered. The woman turned happily to her notepad as the officer looked at him unsure before sighing and rubbing his eyes.

"Fine, the truth is we don't know what happened. The only witness reported that they were in the area because they heard a shouting match going on. Before she could actually witness the participants she heard a voice say something like 'initiate' and then there were a pair of flashes. The woman hurried her pace and arrived just to witness a young woman fleeing the scene and the two fatalities here," said the officer pointing his head at the ambulance that took off.

"And who were the fatalities?" asked the woman. The officer looked at her and then at the Doctor.

"The press will find out eventually," the Doctor reasoned.

"You cannot report the names," said the officer to the woman.

"Fair enough," the woman slightly pouted.

"Lathena and Thalena Reynolds," said the officer. The woman appeared briefly startled by that revelation, something not lost on the Doctor, but she continued writing.

"And the other woman?" the woman continued.

"We don't know yet but presumably she came from the same school as the two women," said the officer. "We'll find her and question her as soon as we can."

"Do you think she was responsible?" asked the Doctor knowing she wasn't.

"Doubtful. We're not quite sure what killed these women but it wasn't from any known physical causes," said the officer. "But we're still investigating."

"Well let me know if anything more comes up," said the Doctor as the woman walked off and the Doctor began to follow suit.

"Yes sir, I'll inform Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart to contact you," said the officer. The Doctor stopped in his tracks as another smile threatened to break across as his face at the mention of his old friend.

"Tell him, the Doctor says hello," said the Doctor this time not able to conceal his broad grin. The Time Lord then chased after the woman who had been questioning the officer earlier.

"I hope that was of some help to you," he commented upon falling into line with her.

"Oh," said the woman slightly startled as she had been flipping through her notes. "Yes, yes it was thank you."

"I couldn't help but notice that you appeared to recognize the names of the two victims," stated the Doctor. The woman stopped suddenly.

"I-I might have an idea as to who they are," said the woman. "Not personally but I have heard of them."

"And who are they?" asked the Doctor needing to know so he could get in touch with that girl he had encountered earlier.

"Look, it's not like I mean to be rude, after all you've been very helpful," commented the woman. "It's just that this is my investigation and I don't need you interfering."

The Doctor stepped right in front of her.

"Listen I don't mean to be rude either but right now there are events occurring that are far beyond your possible comprehension. If you don't tell me what you know very bad things are going to happen," said the Doctor before amending his statement so that she wouldn't think he was threatening her. "Not just to you but to this entire planet. I need you to tell me the truth or this whole world faces complete and total destruction."

"What are you-," began the woman.

"Does the word 'Dalek' mean anything to you?" demanded the Doctor. A strange image passed in front of the woman's eyes but she let it go.

"No," she responded.

"Good and with any luck it never will, unless you don't tell me who those two girls were," swore the Doctor darkly. The woman weighed her options at that statement before sighing.

"They're both students at Coal Hill," said the woman finally. "That's all I can tell you."

The Doctor internally sighed. He shouldn't have been surprised that once again a Dalek encounter would involve Susan's former school.

"Thank you," said the Doctor grateful. "I wish you luck with your investigation."

"And I with yours," said the woman before she left leaving the Doctor alone on the street. The Doctor watched her go and secretly wondered if he'd ever see her again.


	2. Daleks

Next Day, Coal Hill: "Good morning class, are we sitting comfortably?" asked the Doctor to his high school class. The idea of him teaching again in a human school and saying that exact same line was something he could never have fathomed when dealing with those Krillitanes, but such was the curse of the Time Lords he figured. He just hoped something he'd promised he would never do again, wouldn't happen this time.

"So, since I'm your new temporary teacher why don't you fill me in on what you've been learning about," said the Doctor. He looked around at the students, one of whom conveniently was Kalenda who apparently didn't recognize him from yesterday, and waited patiently for a volunteer. Finally a student raised their hand.

"Yes?" said the Doctor.

"We were learning about the Russian side of the conflict during World War II," said the student.

"Ah, yes, that was a fun time wasn't it?" said the Doctor with a mildly bemused expression as he remembered an incident during the war involving the Ice Warriors. It hadn't been funny at the time but that was the beauty of history, with hindsight you could always laugh at your previous actions.

"It wasn't that funny sir, thousands died," chimed in a student.

"I know," said the Doctor soberly, World War II was probably the closest this world would ever get to the Time War at this point in time. "But who was the real killer during that part of the war?"

"The weather sir," said another of the students raising their hand.

"Correctamundo!" said the Doctor happily as he pointed at the student. Realization then struck in as to just what he had said and his head dropped crestfallen.

"_Damnit_," he thought in shame during one of the few times he actually cursed. Noticing the students staring at him the Doctor immediately returned his attention to them.

"But I was hoping we could focus on more recent history," said the Doctor shutting his history book closed, after all he knew it all, he'd practically lived it at one time or another. "I'm of course talking about an event that happened here about five years ago."

Most of the students seemed confused about what he was referring to, but a few seemed to have a faint idea. Kalenda meanwhile stopped staring at her notebook and looked up at the Doctor with muted interest.

"Any of you have any idea what I'm alluding to?" asked the Doctor looking around. To his surprise Kalenda raised her hand.

"Yes Ms. Savrod?" said the Doctor.

"Does it matter?" she said. "I seriously doubt every moment in time is a history making event."

"Of course it matters!" exclaimed the Doctor. "Whatever you do, no matter how insignificant has a ripple effect on everything else. Take what I just said. There are some of you out there who will go investigate what happened five years ago. During that course you will check out books, ask others about it, and in turn that will affect even more events in history. And so on and so on throughout time."

A student raised their hand. "How about a better example?"

"Real or fictional?" asked the Doctor. "Because if you want a real example you need look no further than World War I and it's connections to World War II. When World War I ended, Germany was forced to pay extraordinary grievances to the Allied Nations for its part in the war. This led to a severe strain on the German economy which was only further damaged when the Great Depression occurred and resulted in rampant inflation. This coupled with the other nations attempting to recollect on the debts Germany owed them so they could help their own economies, resulted in a near complete collapse of Germany's economy which allowed Adolf Hitler to rise to power and well you know where it goes from there. And even this is an abridged version of what really happened. Following World War II there was a massive decolonization effort that either went very well or very badly. Case in point Vietnam where the United States finds itself embroiled in a bloody war with the North Vietnamese to try and prevent what they term a 'domino theory' of worlds falling to Communism. As for how the war ends, the United States will…well I guess we'll just have to find out how well they do."

"How about a fictional example?" asked the kid.

"Well I can think of one involving the Hand of-," began the Doctor when suddenly the bell rang. The students all began to file out as the Doctor sat behind his desk and clasped his hands in front of his mouth.

"That was an interesting answer to my question," said Kalenda walking past him.

"I do aim to please," said the Doctor with a smile as Kalenda tipped her head at him and walked out of the room. The Doctor quickly pulled out his sonic screwdriver and examined its readings but it came up blank on the girl as to what use she would be to a Dalek.

"Wonderful," the Doctor grumbled as the mystery continued as he leaned back in his chair twirling the device in his fingers.

"Knock, knock," said the headmaster at the doorway. The Doctor immediately sat up and faked using the screwdriver as a pen as the headmaster laughed.

"You don't need to worry about working hard in front of me," said the man with a smile. "I just wanted to formally welcome you to our school."

"Oh I've been here before," said the Doctor.

"Really?" said the man.

"Oh yes," admitted the Doctor. "My gr…niece was enrolled here about five years ago before her mother moved out of the country."

"Oh, what was she like?" asked the headmaster.

"I always affectionately thought she was an unearthly child but yeah she was knowledgeable way beyond her years," said the Doctor. "Her teachers were Barbara Wright and Ian Chesterton."

"Oh…right," said the headmaster. He had replaced the previous headmaster who had died under mysterious circumstances around the same time the entire school was nearly destroyed but he still knew about those two teachers who had appeared three years ago after a mysterious two year absence.

"Do they still teach here?" asked the Doctor slightly hopeful to see them again.

"I'm afraid not but I'm not really sure why," the headmaster admitted. The Doctor nodded.

"Well I think I'll go get something from the cafeteria," said the Doctor standing up.

"Uh, if you don't mind, for our school paper we always interview the newest teacher to come our way. They'll be contacting you during lunch if that is okay," said the headmaster.

"Fine by me," said the Doctor smiling as he got up, shook the headmaster's hand, grabbed his newspaper and headed out the door. He walked down to the cafeteria and received his meal before taking up a seat where he could keep an eye on Kalenda Savrod. The Doctor unfurled his newspaper in front of him and began reading the article on yesterday's event with the two girls, which he attributed was the reason there was an air of silence in the cafeteria. As he kept reading the article he heard the noise of someone dropping a mess of items on the other side of the table.

"_Must be my interviewer_," thought the Doctor slightly annoyed at the whole concept. He briefly glanced past his paper and was startled to see the woman from yesterday organizing her stuff. The Doctor quickly hid behind his newspaper as the woman finished organizing her stuff.

"Hello," said the woman trying to get the Doctor's attention. Smiling the Doctor dropped his newspaper.

"Hello yourself," said the Doctor with his trademark smile. The woman's expression turned to one of shock.

"I do not believe it," she said.

"Nor do I, yet here we are together again," said the Doctor eating one of his chips. "But forgive my saying this, but you seem to be a little old to be going here."

The woman shook her head while rolling her eyes. "I don't go to school here, I am a college student who is helping out with the school paper here for college credit."

"You must really love journalism," the Doctor commented.

"I do, now can we get this interview over with?" said the woman impatient.

"If you insist," said the Doctor lightly as he reached for his lemonade. The woman placed a tape recorder on the table while taking out her notepad.

"So you are Professor John Smith is that correct?" asked the woman.

"That's right," said the Doctor with a mild grin at his old alias back in action.

"A little overqualified aren't you?" asked the woman.

"Better to be over prepared than under prepared," responded the Time Lord.

"And what are you a professor of?" asked the woman.

"Time And Relative Dimension In Space," answered the Doctor. "TARDIS for short."

"TARDIS?" said the woman distracted as if searching some distant memory.

"You've heard of it?" asked the Doctor interested.

"No," said the woman coming to attention again as she wrote down the word TARDIS followed by a question mark.

"So what's your name?" asked the Doctor curious.

"I'm a Smith like you," the woman admitted as the Doctor sipped his drink. "Sarah Jane Smith."

The Doctor nearly choked on his lemonade hearing that and began coughing profusely before he wiped his mouth with his sleeve.

"Are you okay?" asked Sarah Jane.

"F-fine," said the Doctor at a loss for words. He couldn't believe it, this young woman really was her, and he had been completely oblivious to it. Looking at her now he could see the Sarah Jane Smith that would one day become his companion in five years her time. Of all the people he could've encountered on this mission and it was her, Rasillon must really have been watching over him today.

"So Professor," continued Sarah Jane.

"Doctor," said the Doctor.

"What?" asked Sarah Jane confused.

"I'm a Doctor, I haven't been called Professor in a long time," said the Doctor recalling Ace's nickname for him.

"Well Doctor Smith," continued Sarah Jane.

"Uh, just address me as Doctor please. It's not ego related it's just what I like to be called," said the Doctor trying to contain his growing excitement over meeting up with his old friend again.

"Okay, Doctor," said Sarah Jane confused. It took all of the Doctor's will not to get up and shout in triumph.

"Listen Sarah Jane," began the Doctor anxious to make amends.

"Ms. Smith," interjected Sarah Jane.

"Uh-what?" asked the Doctor confused.

"We're not on a first name basis Doctor," said Sarah Jane rudely. The Doctor's expression immediately fell at that and a look of sadness crept over his face as he looked at his meal severally downtrodden. Sarah Jane saw his expression and sighed deeply.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have been rude," she began.

"No, no, you're right," admitted the Doctor lightly nodding his head. "You barely even know me and here I'm acting like I've known you for years."

"Yes but it's still no excuse," said Sarah Jane putting down her notepad. "I guess I just view you as a rival for this story regarding those two schoolgirl's strange deaths."

"I know, but I don't want it to be that way. I think between the two of us we'll be able to solve this mystery much better than if we were on our own," pleaded the Doctor.

"Are you certain?" asked Sarah Jane with a hint of doubt on her voice.

"I'm certain," said the Doctor with conviction.

"But I don't even know you," said Sarah Jane pushing back from the table.

"Hopefully I'll be able to fill you in on most of the details while we work," said the Doctor. "But I will tell you this. I'm not with UNIT and I'm not a teacher. But everything I else I said to you was the truth."

"About wanting to stop that 'dalek'?" Sarah Jane recalled. The Doctor nodded solemnly.

"I know it is responsible for this and I know that she is somehow connected with it," said the Doctor pointing at her right shoulder far behind which was Kalenda.

"And what makes you think that? She could have been at the wrong place at the wrong time and merely escaped," suggested Sarah Jane chewing on the edge of her pencil in thought. The Doctor shook his head.

"I know the Daleks and believe me when I say they are not choosey in picking their victims. She is still alive and it must be for an important reason and we need to figure out what that is," said the Doctor.

"And just what is a Dalek?" asked Sarah Jane.

"I'll tell you later," said the Doctor. "Why don't you dig up what you can on Ms. Savrod and I'll collect what I can on the Daleks and then we'll meet up later to discuss it."

Sarah Jane eyed the strange man curiously. She'd gone from silently loathing him to being equal partners in the span of just a few moments and it had her a little off guard. But still...there was something about him that she couldn't quite pinpoint that her inner voice told her she could trust him.

"Very well," she said, her mind made up. The Doctor smiled happily.

"Fantastic," he said rubbing his hands together. "I'll see you at that café down the street after school."

Sarah Jane nodded before she realized she had failed to conduct her interview.

"Believe me, when all this is done you'll have a much bigger story than you could possibly have imagined," said the Doctor sensing her thoughts before he finished his food and headed off leaving the reporter a little shocked before she collected her stuff and left as well.

Nearby: Kalenda watched the two go in silence as she shrugged them off as she looked down at her notebook were she had scrawled to the best of her ability the image of the thing she had seen yesterday.

"_What are you_?" she continually wondered. Something about that being kept nagging at her subconscious. She didn't know how but she knew she had seen that thing before, but where and when she didn't know. It was the same with that new teacher. She had never seen him before but she somehow knew him as well but again she didn't know how she knew this either. The only other thing she was positive about was that the two were somehow connected and she had encountered both together at the same time. But when, that was the question. And more importantly, who could she trust of the two, the creature or the teacher? The creature had been more violent but it had protected her while the teacher seemed passive but she can sense he was conspiring against her with the reporter. She had a feeling both of them knew the answers she was seeking but which of them it was, was beginning to frustrate her more than anything. It was making her angry, all of it, and she slammed her fist on the table. As soon as she did a massive jolt went off shocking her hand. Grimacing in pain, Kalenda shook her hand furiously to let go of the tingling sensation.

"_Damn static electricity_," she thought upset before quickly gathering her things and leaving the cafeteria along with the rest of the students. Unfortunately, she failed to notice two things. One, that outside the windows high above the cafeteria, a black domed-shaped object was watching her intently and two, that it was looking at the area where hand had been, an area of the plastic table that was now slowly melting…

After school: The Doctor watched Kalenda leave the school as he took one last reading of her from his screwdriver.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

The Doctor looked at the device in shock as it had picked up the recent presence of a dalek propulsion system nearby, specifically near the upper windows of the cafeteria. The Doctor was silently livid at this fact that Sec had been so nearby and he had remained completely unaware of this. His entire body scrunched up as his inner rage threatened to explode before he forcibly calmed himself down. The Doctor swallowed deeply before forcing himself to analytically assess the situation the way only a Time Lord could. Sec had been there, but he didn't attack him, which made no sense.

"_Unless he did not notice me_," thought the Doctor with dawning realization. That must have meant Sec was so focused on something else in that cafeteria that the Doctor had somehow escaped his attention. The Doctor knew instinctively knew what that was. It was her, the girl, Kalenda. She was somehow the key to all of this and the Doctor needed to find out very soon why or else her life might very well be in grave danger. With no time to waste the Doctor headed off for the café and his meeting with Sarah Jane.

Elsewhere: Kalenda aimlessly wandered down the street distracted with her drawing of the metal object clutched in her right hand. She had thought her life complicated yesterday morning, now it was even more so. And so she continued wandering in a daze not sure where she was going. Eventually she found herself lost in an unknown part of town on a desolate street not sure where to go next. She sighed deeply and hung her head low when she heard the sound of a mechanical device was heard and she saw a dome-shaped shadow creep along the ground towards her. Looking up Kalenda saw the black-shaped creature from earlier.

"Hello," she said. The creature again said nothing and just stared at her. Kalenda sighed as he rolled her eyes at the thing. The creature then advanced on her and the girl held her ground not willing to give an inch to this 'thing'.

"What do you want?" she said angrily as the thing stopped right in front of her. The plunger tilted upwards on the creature and aimed right at her face but nothing happened.

"Either do something or don't," stated Kalenda darkly. The plunger lowered and slammed into her stomach causing her to fall over.

"The hell was that for?" she demanded of the thing.

"DEFEND YOURSELF!" the creature barked. Kalenda growled angrily as she got back up and was immediately knocked down again.

"DEFEND YOURSELF!" shouted the creature again.

"Why should I?" demanded Kalenda. "You're the one who's being the jerk! Why should I obey you?"

"DEFEND YOURSELF OR BE EX-TER-MI-NA-TED!" shouted the creature brandishing its silver weapon stalk at her.

"What?" shouted Kalenda still on the ground not getting up. "You would kill me just like that?"

The creature's eye-stalk moved up and down as if nodding.

"Why?" Kalenda demanded.

"THAT IS WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A DALEK!" the creature, apparently a 'dalek' shouted at her.

"Dalek?" said Kalenda softly. That name meant something to her. She had heard it before, but when…

"NOW DEFEND YOURSELF!" shouted the Dalek interrupting her thoughts.

"I'll show you defending myself," Kalenda growled as she rolled up her right sleeve angrily. She roared angrily as her first went flying at the Dalek but it got stopped by an invisible forcefield.

"The hell?" she said stunned as her first just hung there in midair pressed up against something she could not see.

"YOU HAVE FAILED," said the Dalek aiming its weapon at her.

"You cheated!" shouted Kalenda at it.

"IT MAKES NO DIFFERENCE. YOU HAVE FAILED AND WILL BE EX-TER-MI-NA-TED," said the Dalek coldly. Kalenda whole body began shaking at that statement. Here she was going to be killed by a creature she didn't know, for reasons she couldn't comprehend, and without the answers she had been searching for. All of her rage began to pour out of her at all of it and it was all directed at this creature.

"Like hell I will," she said darkly. Then something extraordinary happened. Kalenda's right fist that was pressed up against the creature's invisible shield began arcing with electricity from no apparent source. She pulled back her fist in shock and looked at it as more electricity shot across it somehow not harming her in the slightest. She looked up at the Dalek as pure rage crossed her eyes.

"**You will be exterminated**," she growled as she launched her fist at the thing. The resulting explosion blew Kalenda off of her feet and sent the Dalek a few feet backwards with dust and debris scattering everywhere. As Kalenda lay there coughing, the Dalek advanced on her to loom over her body.

"YOU HAVE SUC-CEE-DED," was all it said.

"Hooray," said Kalenda a little lightheaded while still on the ground. She wasn't sure what had happened but it gave an air of satisfaction that she had gotten some concession out of the creature. To her surprise the plunger on the creature lowered for her to grab a hold of as the creature that seemed to revel in death and destruction helped her too her feet. Kalenda brushed herself off and stumbled briefly only to collapse on the creature, this time without it's forcefield on.

"Ah!" she said in pain as she withdrew her hand from the creature after it had started burning. Turning to the thing she saw the imprint of her hand briefly on its dome before it vanished.

"What was that for?" she said drawing away from the thing.

"CONFIRMATION," replied the Dalek. Kalenda eyed him curiously as she held her hand.

"Of what?" she asked softly. Before the Dalek could respond, the sound of an engine was heard and the two watched as a police car roared out from around a corner. Kalenda looked back at the Dalek quickly only to find it gone as the police car stopped next to her and two police officers got out and surrounded her.

"What do you want?" she sneered at them, wanting to have been left alone with the Dalek for only a few moments more.

"You're a witness, and possibly a suspect, to a murder investigation and we're here to question you at the station," said one of the officers.

"Do my parents know about this?" Kalenda demanded. The officers nodded.

"They were to bring you in themselves but when you didn't show up after school we began to suspect you'd skipped town so we came looking for you," said the officer as he opened the door to the back. "Now will you come along peacefully or not?"

Kalenda tried to see if she could summon that energy from earlier but all she got was a brief spark that escaped the notice of the officers.

"_Must be tired_," she thought looking at her fist. With little other options she got into the back upset as the door closed behind her and the cop car took off, with a Dalek in pursuit.

A/N: Don't worry, expect classic Dalek collateral damage in the next chapter.


	3. And

A/N: I'm trying to get this out of the door as quickly as possible while the creative juices are still flowing. Any typos you might spot I'll try and edit later. Oh, I did edit the first chapter, sorry about that paragraph. I meant to edit it but I figured it would end up being shorter than I actually wound up writing and I apologize. And to better understand this story I'd recommend knowing the following Doctor Who serials: Remembrance of the Daleks, School Reunion, and Doomsday. In a way this story is a sequel to both Remembrance and Doomsday for reasons you might have already deduced or will find out.

Rose Café: The Doctor sat at a table enjoying some tea and biscuits as Sarah Jane came in and sat down next to him with her stuff spilling everywhere.

"You know I could give you a bag that would have an infinite amount of space inside of it that you could fit all of that into it," observed the Doctor.

"I seriously doubt that," said Sarah Jane rifling through her notes. "The thing would have to be huge."

"You'd be surprised," said the Doctor bemused as he shook his head before taking a sip of his tea. "So what have you got on our friend Ms. Savrod?"

"No," said Sarah Jane shaking her head. "You tell me what a Dalek is first."

"Touchy," said the Doctor amused. "But after all you're the investigator here so you'd know what to do."

"Yes I am the expert and you had better not forget it," said Sarah Jane with a mild air of authority. The Doctor briefly chuckled.

"You always were strong willed in your beliefs," he said softly before turning insightful. "Just like Rose."

"What?" asked Sarah Jane not having paid attention as she was looking through her mounds of paperwork.

"Forget it," said the Doctor as he took out his sonic screwdriver and began twirling it in his hand. "I think you were just about to tell me about Kalenda Darvos."

"Right," began Sarah Jane before realization dawned on her. "Wait-!"

"Too late you already agreed," the Doctor laughed. Oh how it felt good to be able to enjoy some humor despite his current circumstances. Sarah Jane groaned at being outmaneuvered.

"You are a bum," she said. The Doctor shrugged.

"I like to think of myself as an 'uncommon man'," said the Doctor still smiling at the inside joke.

"I can see that," Sarah Jane shot back slightly amused despite herself. "Alright as for Ms. Sarvod, some preliminary information has her being adopted at a young age by the Savrods."

"Adopted?" said the Doctor, his interest piqued. "So then where did she come from?"

"Don't know," said Sarah Jane looking at her reports. "It says the people who dropped her off at the orphanage were frightened out of their wits and said something about bright lights and some other such nonsense before quickly leaving. The orphanage didn't know if they were her real parents or not."

"They didn't run a DNA analysis?" asked the Doctor confused.

"A what?" Sarah Jane asked completely bewildered. The Doctor tensed up realizing what year it was and that Sarah Jane would likely have no idea what he was talking about.

"Huh?" asked the Doctor playing dumb. Sarah Jane looked at him confused before shaking her head and returning to her notes.

"At the orphanage she was quite the loner, always silent, never interacting with the other children and generally staying by herself," Sarah Jane continued. "Eventually she was adopted by the Sarvods out of pity for her condition and tried to help her adjust to society. I don't really know if it was successful or not, but five years ago she had to admitted to psychiatric evaluation for some traumatic event."

"Five years ago," said the Doctor instantly sitting up.

"Does that mean anything to you?" asked Sarah Jane.

"It might," said the Doctor shaking his head. "Do you know what happened five years ago?"

"Oh not much, aside from the school nearly being destroyed along with the surrounding several blocks that was apparently an IRA attack," said Sarah Jane eyeing the Doctor. "I take it you know more."

"I might and I can sum it up in one word," offered the Doctor.

"Let me guess," said Sarah Jane annoyed. "Dalek?"

The Doctor nodded his head. "That's their MO."

"Figures," said Sarah Jane rolling her eyes. "Anyway, the doctors tried to deduce what was wrong with her but every time they ran an analysis on her, their equipment shorted out."

"Do you know what they were trying to figure out?" asked Doctor.

"I barely found out this much," commented Sarah Jane dropping her papers on the table.

"We might have to break in later to find out," commented the Doctor tipping his sonic screwdriver at her for emphasis.

"And just what is that?" Sarah Jane had to know. Realization hit the Doctor's face again and his head slumped down on the table defeated. Out of all the multitude of things he had experienced in his long tenure as renegade Time Lord, encountering a previous longtime companion before he actually met them was a new one. Usually it was the other way around, with him encountering a future companion who had traveled with him so that even if his experiences were different then theirs they were more or less on the same page. But this…this was complicated. The Doctor wasn't quite sure how to deal with it without really polluting the timeline and possibly risking the Reapers showing up. That they hadn't shown up already was a miracle in and of itself.

"Just forget it," he said defeated as he prepared to put the device away. "You wouldn't know what it was anyway."

He figured that would be the end of it when Sarah Jane dropped a bomb on him.

"Is it a sonic screwdriver?" she asked. The Doctor's jaw dropped at that statement as he dropped the thing on the table in shock.

"How did you know that?" he said stunned. Sarah Jane picked it up and looked it over. It was not like the Doctor didn't believe in the concept of 'woman's intuition' but not when it came to something like this.

"Dunno," admitted Sarah Jane twisting some objects on the device. "The name just popped into my head."

The Doctor raised an eyebrow curiously at that as Sarah Jane continued making adjustments to the device.

"I wouldn't do that if-," began the Doctor when Sarah Jane aimed it at the Doctor's tea cup and activated the device. The Doctor's tea cup began boiling for a few moments before Sarah Jane powered down the device.

"Sorry," the journalist apologized handing over the device. "Your tea was looking a little cold."

The Doctor looked at his screwdriver and then at Sarah Jane. He felt like he should say something but even he was at a loss for words as to how she could know the exact setting to boil liquids. His former companion was now up ordering something to eat and drink as if it were business as usual, apparently not having even noticed her impossible actions.

"What?" she asked after sitting back down with her order. The Doctor just shook his head. As if he didn't have enough to worry about now he had to be concerned about Sarah Jane possibly flying off the handle.

"Never mind," said the Doctor returning to normal. "Anything else?"

"Just that Lathena and Thalena were known school bullies and that they were known to pester Kalenda on occasion," said Sarah Jane. "Something which I suspect they were doing that to Kalenda when they were…exterminated."

The Doctor had to force himself to believe she chose that word by accident and not on purpose. Thankfully the content of her message gave him the proper platform to do it.

"So you think they were attacking her when Sec…protected her?" said The Doctor in disbelief.

"I don't know who 'Sec' is, but yes that's what I think happened," confirmed Sarah Jane nodding. The Doctor was at a loss for words at that statement.

"Let me guess, Daleks don't protect people," said Sarah Jane. The Doctor nodded.

"Unless it's Dalek they don't do it," he stated. Sarah Jane set her pencil down.

"Well unless you tell me what a Dalek is then we're stuck," stated the intrepid reporter crossing her arms. The Doctor sighed, hoping to have avoided that particular subject but knowing fully well Sarah Jane would know if he was lying.

"Keep in mind that with what I'm about to tell you it's better to view it from a 'you can't disprove it' than a 'you must be joking' perspective," began the Doctor tentatively.

"Oh this ought to be great," said Sarah Jane already knowing she wasn't going to like this.

"Ah, heh-heh," began the Doctor laughing nervously to himself before he launched into his explanation.

Police Station: Kalenda sat in the interrogation room with her arms crossed.

"That's your story?" said Lt. Traxler in disbelief as he look at the crumpled drawing of the Dalek Kalenda had drawn earlier.

"Yes, every word of it," said Kalenda having explained everything that had happened over the past two days.

"You realize what an incredible story that is," continued Traxler.

"You asked me for the truth, it's not my fault you can't accept it," Kalenda shot back. Traxler sighed before looking over at the two-way mirror and then leaving the room. In the observation room was Detective Vukovich who was drinking some coffee while looking at the girl with muted interest.

"What do you think?" asked Traxler pouring himself some coffee.

"She clearly believes her story," was all Vukovitch could come up with.

"Of course she believes it," said Traxler annoyed. "But that doesn't bring us any closer to the truth."

"It never does," laughed Vukovitch. "But I'll play the good cop and say she's telling the truth."

"With a story that ridiculous?" balked Traxler. "Please. You read the report and saw her background information. She's a head case and she had to have killed them. She got pushed too far and she snapped."

"Then how did she pull it off?" demanded Vukovitch. "You read the autopsy there was no probably cause of death. Call me crazy but I don't think she's that skilled in the art of death."

"You'd be surprised what you can accomplish if you put your mind to it," said Traxler.

"Yeah but you also cannot accomplish the impossible," stated Vukovitch.

"Well the scientist the forensic pathologist brought in said it wasn't exactly impossible," said Traxler already regretting having said that.

"A death ray?" said Vukovitch shaking his head. "You're telling me she invented a death ray to kill those girls? A death ray which according to the scientist is beyond our ability and knowledge? You're giving her way too much credit."

"Well the only option I see now is to threaten her and see if she cracks," said Traxler.

"Suit yourself," said Vukovitch doubtful as he took another sip of his coffee as Traxler headed back in. Unknown to both, down at the receptionist desk, the receptionist was glancing through various reports when a shadow fell over their desk. Looking up, the receptionist saw a black dome shaped object enter into the building.

"Can I help you?" asked the receptionist doubtful. The creature said nothing but instead aimed its silver stalk at her.

"EX-TER-MI-NATE!" it shouted as the weapon fired.

Café: "So what do you think?" asked the Doctor sipping his tea. He had related to Sarah Jane the basics of the Dalek background from their extraterrestrial origin to their incessant hate for anything not Dalek, while revealing nothing about himself just that he had encountered them five years ago, which was true.

"It's quite a story," began Sarah Jane at a loss for words as she held her head in shock.

"So do you believe me?" asked the Doctor worried that she wouldn't.

"Believe it or not, and I'm not sure I do, but yeah I do believe you," said Sarah Jane stunned. The Doctor blinked.

"Really?" he asked hopeful. Sarah Jane nodded.

"Really," she confirmed. "Your story makes no sense but somehow that means it must be the truth. God I must be going crazy."

"More like you're going sane in an insane universe," said the Doctor finishing his tea. "That's how I've felt lately."

Sarah Jane smiled lightly as the Doctor smiled lightly back as well when…

THOOOOOM!!!

The Doctor and Sarah Jane were suddenly thrown from their seats as the entire ground shook beneath them.

"What was that?" demanded Sarah Jane as she and the Doctor scurried underneath the table. "An earthquake?"

The Doctor produced his screwdriver and turned it on.

"No," he said. Suddenly the ground shook again as ceiling tiles began falling down. "It's some sort of local explosion."

"Caused by what?" asked Sarah Jane before she briefly screamed as the ground shook again.

"Let's find out," said the Doctor as he grabbed Sarah Jane and together they left the building and poured out onto the street with everyone else. In the distance smoke could be seen rising up high into the sky.

"IRA?" asked Sarah Jane. The Doctor eyed the smoke curiously when a silver energy beam shot out and flew off into the sky.

"It's Sec, he's made his move!" shouted the Doctor running off down the street through the crowds of people gathering outside.

"What?" demanded Sarah Jane.

"Come on Sarah Jane!" shouted the Doctor. Sarah Jane looked at the smoke and the Doctor depressed.

"Ugh, I'm not being paid enough for this," she said aggravated before she too took off down the street after him.

Police Station: The receptionist never knew what hit him as the desk, the front bulletproof glass, and indeed the whole front of the building exploded raining glass and debris on the outside. As the Dalek passed over the dead body of the receptionist it made its way into the lobby where confusion and disarray permeated the air. Some individuals ran, others opened fire, all were exterminated. As Sec continued into the building, the travel unit's sensors picked up the primitive transmissions that these creatures used to communicate with each other. While the Dalek would gladly have welcomed a fight with even more of these inferior creatures, these were not normal circumstances and it had to delay any fight until it had accomplished its mission. It had to protect the child at all costs, though even it was still a little unsure as to why. Something was compelling it to defend her and teach her to defend herself and it was frustrating to the Dalek as this essentially went against all of its mandates. It was to exterminate all things non-Dalek and yet somehow this girl succeeded in defying it. Sec had to know why and soon because he knew it was only a matter of time before the _Ka Faraq Gatri_ showed up and Sec did not need his meddling while he was still the lone Dalek left in the universe.

And so the electrical transformer was the next to go and resulted in a second explosion that rocked the ground causing all the lights to go out and all the jail cells to automatically unlock. Luckily for this station, the only individuals incarcerated were for minor misdemeanors, but none of that mattered to Sec as it continued its rampage through the station exterminating everything in its path. After a few moments, its sensors registered that the weaponry the officers were using was becoming…'heavier' it supposed the word was. To a Dalek no weaponry was a true threat against them, and especially not against the Cult which had done away with all weaknesses standard travel units sometimes encountered, but to the girl a stray bullet could kill her. So the armory had been the next thing to go taking out the west wall along with several more police officers. Sec turned away and advanced away from the armory as an officer emerged screaming and on fire before they collapsed on the ground, their screams lost on deaf ears as the Dalek didn't care for its wellbeing. As the sounds of sirens blared outside, Sec knew he had to wrap this up soon and so it scanned the building for Kalenda Sarvod and found her on the second floor.

"EL-E-VATE!" it shouted as its travel unit lifted up into the air and up the nearby stairs.

I.M. Foreman Scrapyard: Sarah Jane had lost the Doctor somewhere outside the yard and was looking around for him.

"Doctor where did you get off to?" she wondered aloud. The Doctor instantly appeared from out of nowhere racing out of the scrapyard with a steel canister in his hands.

"C'mon," he said as Sarah Jane followed suit.

"What is that?" she inquired of the canister.

"Oh, just something that'll give us an ace up our sleeve," said the Doctor mildly before cringing heavily. Had he really reduced himself to using puns? Now he knew he really needed a vacation.

"_But not right now_," he thought as Sarah Jane and he advanced closer and closer to the burning police station.

Station: Kalenda sat underneath the table with her knees pulled up close to her body as the whole building shook. Near the doorway, Traxler and Vukovitch were consulting with the nearby officers trying to figure out what was going on.

"It's taken out the armory, the generator, and the whole front of the building!" said one officer out of breath as a trickle of blood passed down their forehead.

"What do you mean 'it'?" demanded Traxler. "Are they male or female?"

"I don't know it's not even human! The thing down there is some black robot or something shooting death rays! It's War of the Worlds down there!" shouted the officer. The others looked at him like he was delirious or in shock from blood loss but Traxler and Vukovitch both had a sinking feeling as the looked back at the room and at Kalenda who was still there underneath the table in silence.

"You three go cover the staircase the rest of you find us a way out of here," ordered Traxler before he and Vukovitch returned to the room and crouched down to look at Kalenda.

"Now do you believe me?" she grumbled looking at them angrily.

"Apparently so," said Traxler not happy about it either way. "But what does it want with you?"

"I don't know," said Kalenda. "But it won't hurt me, I do know that."

"But-," began Vukovitch. Kalenda groaned.

"Yes it said it'd kill me earlier but I don't think it meant it," Kalenda amended. "And no, I don't know why either. But it's here for me, I do know that."

"So you think we should just give you to it?" said Vukovitch incredulously. Kalenda looked up at him with a look that chilled him to the bone.

"I don't care what you do, but I will be leaving with that thing. The only question being who is still left alive when it's done," said Kalenda. Traxler and Vukovitch looked at each other uncomfortably when a loud voice interrupted their thoughts.

"EX-TER-MI-NATE!" shouted a voice as a scream was heard from the stairwell. Traxler was weighing his options when he hauled Kalenda out from underneath the table.

"What are you doing?" demanded Kalenda as she tried to pull away from him.

"Saving our lives," said Traxler as he hauled her out into the room and into the hallway as an officer was blown backwards against the wall as Sec emerged at the top of the staircase and looked at the officer and his human shield.

"Now then," said Traxler breathing heavily. "Let's talk."

Outside: The Doctor and Sarah Jane pushed their way through the crowd that the police were desperately trying to keep back as fire and smoke burned out of the station.

"I told you they were a threat," said the Doctor when he saw Sarah Jane's shocked expression. "And that's just one of them. Imagine what an army could do. Because believe me, it's beyond words."

The Doctor was at the edge of the yellow tape and was desperately feeling around for his psychic paper when he realized it wasn't with him.

"_Must've dropped it when I went to get the…_," began the Doctor annoyed at this kink in his plan. He was about to force his way through when a very familiar figure appeared, someone whom he hadn't seen since his seventh incarnation.

"I need you to push them all back as far as you can," said Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart to the soldiers at the tape.

"Brigadier!" said the Doctor happily. "It's so great to see you again after all this time."

Lethbridge-Stewart eyed him curiously. "You must have me confused with someone else, I'm only a colonel."

"Right, you haven't been promoted yet," said the Doctor to himself as a mental note. "But it's me, it's the Doctor."

Lethbridge-Stewart eyed him doubtfully. This man looked nothing like the Doctor he had met not too long ago. "I do know a Doctor but I'm certain you're not him."

As he turned to go, the Doctor said something that made him stop in his tracks. "Remember the Yeti in the underground?"

Lethbridge-Stewart turned around and eyed him curiously.

"Because I certainly do," said the Doctor grinning. Lethbridge-Stewart looked at them and then up at the burning building as a trio of windows blew out.

"If you're not the Doctor you're going to be in severe trouble," he began.

"Oh I should suspect so. But I am the Doctor and this is my assistant Sarah Jane Smith," said the Doctor pointing at Sarah Jane. Rassilon it felt good to be able to say that again after all these centuries. He just wished Rose had been with them as well, somehow he suspected she'd have gotten a kick out of speaking with a Sarah Jane her age. Lethbridge-Stewart eyed them curiously before motioning for them to come in as the Doctor and Sarah Jane slipped past the tape and ventured into the military setup around them. They approached a military truck where three more familiar faces.

"Well, well, isn't this just a series of reunions. Group Captain Gilmore, Rachel, Allison, it's great to see you all again," said the Doctor overjoyed as he walked up to Group Captain 'Chunky' Gilmore, Professor Rachel Jensen, and her assistant Allison whose last name he didn't know. The last time he had seen them they'd been fighting off a Dalek incursion that had signaled there would be no turning back from the coming Time War.

"Who is this?" demanded Gilmore of Lethbridge-Stewart.

"The Doctor," said Lethbridge-Stewart at a loss for words. The trio eyed him doubtful.

"You don't look like the man we knew," stated Captain Gilmore.

"But let me guess, the Doctor you knew is different from the Doctor he knew," said the Doctor pointing to Lethbridge-Stewart.

"That's right," Gilmore confirmed.

"I am just one of many faces of the Doctor but rest assured I am him," said the Doctor before he nodded at the building. "I am as sure of that as I am sure that there is a Dalek right now inside that building."

The trio who knew what a Dalek was instantly turned pale at that while Lethbridge-Stewart merely shifted uncomfortably having heard of the Dalek rampage five years ago.

"And what is it doing here?" asked Rachel.

"I don't know," said the Doctor shrugging. "It was fleeing from a previous encounter we had had and somehow came here. It has something to do with a local schoolgirl named Kalenda Savrod. Do you have any idea who she is?"

"You don't know?" asked Gilmore surprised.

"No," said the confused Doctor shaking his head.

"She's the girl the Daleks were using to power their battle computer five years ago," said Gilmore. The Doctor's expression dropped at that as his mind raged with that piece of information.

"Do you think the Daleks are attempting to use her again for their battle computer?" asked Rachel concerned.

"No," said the Doctor shaking his head firmly. If it had been any Dalek other than Sec it might have been a remote possibility but not with a member of the Cult. "No, Sec needs her for something else but I can't figure out what just yet."

The others nodded solemnly as another window blew out thanks to the fire.

"Where's Ace?" asked Allison finally. The Doctor looked up.

"Oh, she and I split ways awhile back," he said remembering the day he had to tell Ace they had to split ways because of the upcoming Time War. She hadn't been happy about it, but the Doctor knew if she stayed with him she would die as so many others shortly did.

"Besides, she's here with us in spirit," said the Doctor holding up his silver canister. "And I need to get into that building alone."

The quartet all responded to that.

"You can't go in there! Not without an entire regiment and even then it'd be risky," said Gilmore. He'd been overconfident when it came to the Daleks before and he was not about to make the same mistake twice.

"I have to go," stated the Doctor solemnly. "Or else more people will die."

"But Doctor-," began Allison. The Doctor just shook his head.

"The Time War must end," he stated as he headed for the massive hole that constituted the entrance of the building.

"Doctor this isn't the answer," said Sarah Jane a little bit confused as to what was going on but sure that what the Doctor was about to do was wrong. The Doctor stopped and sighed deeply. Reaching into his pocket he fished out his Sonic Screwdriver and walked back to hand it to Sarah Jane.

"I'll be back for this," he said as he headed back for the entrance.

"Thank you Doctor," said Sarah Jane grateful that he wasn't going with the mindset of it being a suicide mission.

"If I don't return, level the building," said the Doctor as he finally vanished into the smoke and debris.

Upstairs: Sec watched Traxler curiously as he backed up with the other officers and Vukovitch. Traxler currently had a gun to Kalenda's head as he used her as a human shield.

"Boss, what're you doing?" asked Vukovitch concerned about the course of action Traxler was taking.

"I'm getting us out of this alive," Traxler hissed.

"Yeah but-," began Vukovitch.

"YOU WOULD HIDE BEHIND ANOTHER TO SAVE YOURSELF? YOUR SPECIES IS COWARDLY, INFERIOR, AND WILL BE EX-TER-MI-NA-TED," stated Sec.

"You're not going to be exterminating anyone," growled Traxler as he moved further back. "If you want to see Ms. Savrod alive and well you will surrender yourself into custody."

In response to such a notion, Sec fired and eliminated a nearby police officer.

"Will you stop that!" shouted Traxler.

"DALEKS DO NOT TAKE ORDERS!" shouted Sec. "SURRENDER AND BE EX-TER-MI-NA-TED!"

"If that's what you believe then kill the girl," stated Traxler. Sec did not have an answer for this.

"That's what I thought," said Traxler nodding his head. The Dalek reversed direction and vanished into a nearby room as the group breathed a momentary sigh of relief. …And then the wall behind them blew out raining smoke and debris into the hallway as Sec appeared.

"EX-TER-MI-NATE!" roared Sec as the Dalek began blasting everyone in sight. In moments, Vukovitch and all the other officers were dead, leaving only Traxler with his gun still pressed firmly to Kalenda's head.

"That's it you son of a bitch, she dies!" Traxler roared as his finger prepared to squeeze down on the trigger as Sec aimed his weapon at them.

"Oh that's it!" shouted Kalenda furious. "I am sick and tired of everyone trying to kill me! If anyone's going to die, it's not going to be me!"

Her hands clenched tightly into fists as electricity erupted from them into the air. Traxler backed up terrified as the electricity coursed through Kalenda's entire body causing her hair and clothes to move about as if charged with static.

"What are you?" said Traxler stunned. Kalenda didn't respond but just stood there as a blinding light briefly flared followed by a massive thunderclap as if to underscore her incredible power. Traxler looked over at the Dalek who was aiming its weapon at him.

"I guess I'll see you both in hell then," he stated as he aimed his gun and fired at Kalenda. The girl said nothing but threw her hands forward as electricity shot off of them melting the bullet in midair.

"EX-TER-MI-NATE!" shouted Sec as it fried Traxler who slumped to the ground dead. Sec turned to face the girl.

"ALL ENEMIES ARE DEFEATED. DALEK'S ARE-," began the creature.

"SEC!" shouted a very familiar voice with pure rage interrupting its victory speech. Sec turned to the hallway along with Kalenda as from the smoke and stood there with a dark look in his eyes.

"Doc-tor?" asked Sec not shouting for once. The Doctor nodded his head before looking at the electrical storm known as Kalenda Sarvod.

"What've you done to her?" demanded the Doctor, now wishing he hadn't given up his Sonic Screwdriver to Sarah Jane. Though perhaps it was just as well as Kalenda may have fried it. That and it gave him an incentive to get out of this alive to retrieve his technology before it inadvertently got into the wrong hands.

"I HAVE DONE NOTHING!" Sec gloated as more electricity rolled off of Kalenda's body and even powered some of the nearby lightbulbs. The Doctor looked at the girl quizzically at that. He vaguely recalled Ace's story about how this girl had been brainwashed by the Daleks when she was younger and had managed to shoot off the electricity that had killed Mike Smith and nearly killed her in the process. When the Dalek's control over her had finally been broken, the Doctor had run scans on her but found nothing. At the time he had merely assumed that other forces were at work and Ace had merely seen things. Apparently Ace had been right all along. But that still didn't explain how she was pulling it off; Dalek technology perhaps?

"How are you controlling her?" demanded the Doctor. "I would've detected any signals being broadcast from you to her so how are you pulling it off?"

"I AM NOT CONTROLLING HER," said Sec as he aimed his weapon stalk at the Doctor. "NOW YOU WILL BE EX-TER-MI-NA-TED!"

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. I'm sure you recognize this," said the Doctor producing the silver canister from earlier. The Dalek was not stupid, it could instantly recognize an infinite amount of threats, chief among them nitro-9, which the Doctor had used on more than one occasion during the Time War and during the battle five years ago, which was the direct precursor to the Time War.

"You might kill me but if I drop this then we both die," said the Doctor his hand on the priming device of the deadly explosive. "And I know how much the Daleks loathe a stalemate. Especially against me."

Sec merely glared at the Doctor. For several moments a tense silence ensued only punctuated by the crackling of energy from Kalenda's body. And then as often happens in situations like this, everything quickly went wrong. Kalenda was unleashing energy at an exponential rate and it was quickly weakening her. Soon she collapsed right in front of the Doctor and Sec, but not before one massive burst of energy that flung Sec backwards into a wall and threw the Doctor off his feet and tore the canister of nitro-9 from his grip. The now primed canister rolled along the ground until it came to a rest right next to Kalenda. The Doctor and Sec both looked at each other knowing what this meant and struggled to get to their fight.

Outside, Sarah Jane and the others watched helplessly as a massive explosion tore through the building and then it collapsed in on itself.

A/N: So now you know. Kalenda Sarvod is _not_ an original character she's the schoolgirl from _Remembrance of the Daleks _in her teens. I did make up the name because she was never given one in the serial. But there are still more mysteries to be solved.


	4. The

A/N: For simplicities sake I'm assuming Sarah Jane's timeline is the same as Elisabeth Sladen's. I realize this doesn't mesh with the show at times but it works better for this story.

Next Day: The Doctor opened his eyes groggily as he found himself staring at a white ceiling. Looking around he noticed he was hooked up to a life-support monitor and various other medical equipment indicating he was in a hospital. He wasn't sure how he had gotten here but at least he was still alive.

…And then his eyes fell on the defibrillator and he immediately tensed up. The last time he'd seen one of those it had killed him and caused him to regenerate from his seventh to his eighth incarnation. If that had happened now then they were all in trouble as Sec could detect that and could take advantage of his temporary madness that always resulted with regeneration.

But as the Doctor patted himself down he breathed a sigh of relief. He was still good ol' number 10 complete with his new favorite mole. With that hurdle passed, he saw a sleeping Sarah Jane Smith on a nearby chair with his Sonic Screwdriver tucked over her left ear.

"_Probably the most advanced piece of technology on this planet and everyone here must think it's a pen_," he thought amused before coughing briefly. Sarah Jane blinked her eyes and stretched as she woke up.

"Oh you're awake," she said before explaining. "It was touch and go there for awhile, but you pulled through."

"And what if I hadn't?" the Doctor asked wanting to know. Sarah Jane shrugged while yawning.

"You'd just have regenerated," she said. The Doctor looked at her wide-eyed again. How could Sarah Jane have known about that? Looking at her expression of innocence he doubted even she knew the meaning of what she had just said. He needed to figure it out if he ever had an encounter like this with other former companions as his eyes wandered around and fell on a book that was on her lap.

"What's that?" he asked. Sarah Jane looked at it.

"Oh, just a book on the Middle Ages," she said looking at it. "I was reading it for my history class."

"I'd take it to heart, you'll never know when it might come in handy," the Doctor noted. "Anyway, why are you not in school?"

"Weekend Doctor," reminded Sarah Jane as she pointed at a nearby calendar.

"Right," said the Doctor giving himself another mental note. "But you didn't need to stay the night. I'm touched but I don't want you to get in trouble for this."

"Are you joking?" said Sarah Jane incredulously. "I'm sticking with this to the end. I mean how often does a story like this come along? I'd be lucky to ever get a story like this again!"

"_Try five years_," thought the Doctor chuckling to himself before he started coughing again.

"Ah, greetings Doctor, good to see you made it out in one piece," said Lethbridge-Stewart coming in with Allison as Sarah Jane quietly excused herself for a moment.

"Just lucky I guess," stated the Doctor. "But how's the girl?"

"She's alive," confirmed Lethbridge-Stewart. "We found her underneath your body from where you had managed to drag her before the building caved in. If not for that she probably would have died."

"What's her physical condition?" asked the Doctor concerned for the girl's safety.

"She's still unconscious but she should pull through shortly," said Allison.

"And Sec…I mean the Dalek?" asked the Doctor. Lethbridge-Stewart shook his head.

"We searched the rubble and found no trace of it," said the Colonel. "I don't suppose that explosion could have vaporized it?"

The Doctor shook his head. "Nitro-9 isn't that powerful unfortunately. My supplier was always willing to increase the capacity on it but I always told her not to." With that the Doctor shuddered remembering when Ace had unveiled her new nitro-10 and nearly killed both of them in the process.

"We suspected as much," said Lethbridge-Stewart. "That's where Group Captain Gilmore and Doctor Jensen are right now, he's attempting to locate the Dalek with the rest of UNIT."

"Then I'd better go help them," said the Doctor instantly sitting up and throwing his feet over the side of the bed and cracking his neck. Before he could get off the bed he found himself being restrained by the two of them.

"Doctor I don't care if you do have two hearts, you are in no position to be going anywhere," said Allison. The Doctor looked at them with mild surprise.

"Yes we found out you're not exactly human," confirmed Allison. "Not as to say we didn't have our doubts earlier, but when you had an irregular heartbeat, we weren't sure what to do about it when Sarah Jane remarked offhand that you had two of them. That just about cinched it."

The Doctor shook his head at that bit of information that Sarah Jane again knew more than she should.

"Well as you humans say, 'twenty miles to school and all that' for at Time Lord it's more 'a million miles to school'," said the Doctor cheerfully. "So I will be fine, trust me."

With that he grabbed his coat and headed for the door.

"What can we do?" asked Allison to Lethbridge-Stewart.

"It's been my one time experience with the Doctor that it is very difficult to stop him once his mind is made up," said Lethbridge-Stewart helpless.

"What if the Dalek shows up?" Allison pointed out to him.

"He won't," said the Doctor just about to leave. "Daleks only know how to kill so as long as you keep Ms. Sarvod here, it will not attack. Besides, Sec is likely repairing himself right now as we speak so he will be too busy to do interfering."

With that he waved at them and vanished out the door. Walking down the hallway outside, he noticed Sarah Jane drinking from a nearby water fountain.

"We off then?" she asked wiping her mouth dry. The Doctor nodded his head. Even with her knowing more than she should, he still realized he needed a partner in this.

"Let's go," he confirmed. "Though you may want to change or something first."

"Right," Sarah Jane confirmed looking at her worn clothing. "Where can I meet you?"

"I.M. Foreman's scrapyard in say an hour?" asked the Doctor. Sarah Jane did some calculations in her head before nodding.

"Good," said the Doctor pleased as both began to split ways. "Oh and Sarah Jane?" he asked. Sarah Jane stopped and looked at him.

"Can I have my screwdriver back? You never know when a cabinet might need to be mounted onto a wall," The Doctor explained. Sarah Jane laughed as she handed him back the device and then both walked off in separate directions.

Sewers: The stench and sludge down below the surface of London was such that only those creatures with a strong will to survive could exist. And this was where Dalek Sec found itself. Its travel unit had been damaged by the nitro-9 explosion and now it found itself with a cracked outer casing, a barely functioning beam weapon and manipulator arm, and a weakened shield. But it had succeeded and saved Kalenda Savrod and that had made the damage worth it. Unfortunately, Sec had also inadvertently saved the Doctor, the Ka Faraq Gatri, but that was a minor inconvenience. Once Sec was done here, the Doctor would be unable to stop him, but for that to happen Sec had to repair itself and so it continued on through the sewer intent on its objective.

Hospital: The Doctor walked straight to the lab intent on examining the blood samples that the hospital must have taken from Ms. Sarvod. Testing the door he found it locked, but one sonic screwdriver later, and it opened up and the Doctor snuck in and made a beeline for the refrigeration unit. Looking through the vials he looked through the dates and found Ms. Sarvod's before instantly tensing up and seeing another marked 'The Doctor'. Grabbing those vials he immediately pocketed them before making his way over to the microscope and flipping it on. Quickly preparing a sample of Kalenda's blood he put the slide on the tray and looked through the lenses at it. The blood sample he saw _looked_ normal enough, but appearances could be deceiving. After all, even though humans could store up kinetic energy to give off the occasional jolt of static electricity, and in rarer more extreme cases actually build enough of a charge to inadvertently fry nearby objects and cause them to catch on fire, to actually manipulate that energy and cause it to manifest itself was beyond human capacity no matter what century. So the Doctor was left to examine her blood and hope that something came up. After a few moments of looking, the Doctor sighed and found himself wishing for an electron microscope, or even K-9. But it would be years before the electron microscope could be miniaturized to be allowed in hospitals and K-9…well the Doctor supposed he could wait 3000 some years for the dog to show up but he wasn't really in the mood to wait.

"_But there's no reason we can't let a little Time Lord science speed things up_," though the Doctor ruefully as he used his sonic screwdriver to increase the magnification exponentially. Looking through the microscope, the Doctor was very surprised at what he saw.

"Hey what are you doing in here?" demanded a voice. The Doctor froze at that before spinning around in his chair and breathing an internal sigh of relief. It wasn't a security guard but a lab technician.

"Hi, I'm the Doctor," he said standing up with his hand outstretched. The lab technician backed up a little bit unsure at being confronted like this. Usually people who weren't where they belonged stammered a little bit.

"I-I'm Arnold Palmer, head technician," said the man a little nervous. "And you're Doctor who?"

"Anyway I heard you had an interesting blood sample and I came by to check it out," said the Doctor avoiding his question. If the man had been uncertain before this statement helped get rid of it. No one could have known about that sample unless they had been deliberately told about it and besides, blood samples weren't typically at the top of the media's attention.

"Yeah it is, isn't it?" stated the technician as the Doctor breathed a sigh of relief as the two advanced towards the sample. The Doctor surreptitiously used his screwdriver to restore the magnification on the microscope as Arnold looked into it.

"Her blood has some unknown proteins in it that we _cannot_ identify," said the technician. "And believe me, we've looked through every obscure record we can and nothing. Not only that, but her blood type does not correspond to anything on record! I've heard of bizarre occurrences in the medical profession but never one like this."

"Yeah I have seen some strange things," the Doctor admitted lightly. "And not just in the medical profession either."

"Well you're more than welcome to keep looking at it. Let us know what you come up with," said Arnold getting up to leave.

"Uh, you may want to contact UNIT, they said something about confiscating any research I come up with," added the Doctor before the man left.

"Figures," said Arnold as he vanished out the door. The Doctor quickly pocketed all of Kalenda's samples and headed for the door. As soon as he left he ran into Lethbridge-Stewart and Allison.

"What were you doing Doctor?" asked Allison genuinely curious.

"Just following up on a lead," said the Doctor nonchalantly with a disarming smile.

"And I take it you'll keep us informed on what you find?" asked Lethbridge-Stewart.

"Of course I will brigadier!" said the Doctor faking being hurt at that statement. Lethbridge-Stewart groaned at that comment as he rubbed his nose. The Doctor patted him on the back in pity and moved past them.

"That's colonel!" he shouted back at the departing Time Lord.

"Oops, Gallifreyan Slip," said the Doctor and with that he was gone. Lethbridge-Stewart looked at Allison who was slightly amused at the whole thing.

"Was he like this to you five years ago?" he asked helpless. Allison nodded her head.

"It's strange, different body same mind," she admitted before chuckling. "Reminds me of what Rachel said once when she was frustrated with him: '_Only_ the Doctor knows what is going on'. I guess some things will never change."

"I guess not," said Lethbridge-Stewart also mildly amused. "Now if you'll excuse me I have to go convince the girl's parents to let her stay at least overnight for further observation."

Allison smiled briefly as Lethbridge-Stewart put on his hat and walked off. Allison glanced at her watch and quickly headed off as well to rejoin the investigation team.

1 Hr. Later: The Doctor was sitting in the junkyard cobbling together a device from the various bits of wreckage in the yard when Sarah Jane showed up in a new pair of clothes.

"What're you doing?" asked Sarah Jane taking a seat on the other side of the table.

"When I was here five years ago I made a device capable of disabling Dalek circuitry. I doubt lightning will strike twice but I've got nothing to loose," explained the Doctor holding up the completed device. He gave it a once over glance before giving it to Sarah Jane.

"Oh," she said surprised. "Thank you."

"Anytime Sarah Jane," the Doctor promised. He then got up and began stretching.

"Listen Doctor," began Sarah Jane. "Thank you so much for this opportunity. You really took a chance on me, especially since I'm a reporter for my college paper, and I'm grateful. I mean you don't even know me…"

"I always enjoy people's company, it gives me a fresh perspective on things that I might not have considered," said the Doctor. "You know awhile back I was seriously doubtful about even having another companion after the loss of my last one but you've been helpful in more ways than one and I'll know when I find my next companion, not to brush them aside. For that I thank you."

Sarah Jane smiled at that. "So what now?"

"_We_ go Dalek hunting but first I need to pop in there to analyze Ms. Sarvod's blood samples," said the Doctor pointing at his TARDIS.

"A Police Box is going to provide you the information you need?" asked Sarah Jane doubtful. The Doctor nodded, grateful that she was not aware of what the TARDIS really was.

"I won't be a minute," he explained about to slip inside.

"You're the Time Lord," commented Sarah Jane offhand. The Doctor rested his head against the doors of the TARDIS defeated before quickly heading in and closing the doors behind him. Sarah Jane walked over to the machine and leaned against it. She stood there for a few moments bored before blowing a stay strand of hair out of her face and looking at the doors. Quickly making up her mind, Sarah Jane pushed them open and stepped through. What greeted her inside was something she wasn't expecting. The inside was huge with a massive control panel in the center around a central transparent column. The Doctor was so hard at work on the controls that he didn't even notice her enter.

"Wow," she said amazed. The Doctor looked up at her shocked.

"I told you not to come in!" he exclaimed.

"No you didn't," said Sarah Jane. "You said you'd be gone a minute and you weren't so I took matters into my own hands. Besides, you should've known better than to expect me to just stay outside while you're working on this mystery."

The Doctor opened his mouth to complain but found he couldn't with that wording.

"So is it what you expected?" he asked returning his attention to his work

"It's not much different from what I thought," admitted Sarah Jane as she looked around the spacious chamber. "But…Doctor why do I feel as though I've been here before?"

"I don't know," admitted the Doctor before noticing Sarah Jane's disbelieving expression. "From your perspective you have never been in here."

"But I _have_ been in here," stated Sarah Jane. "I know I have, I'm certain of that."

"Yes you have been in here," the Doctor confirmed wondering how big a ditch he was going to dig in the space-time continuum before he got reprimanded for it by the Reapers. "But it won't be for another five years Earth time. And then it'll only be because you'll have snuck into the TARDIS without my knowledge. How little things have changed."

"Yes," confirmed Sarah Jane as if deeply searching her memory. "There was something about missing scientists in the Middle Ages. And then there was a…Son…tar…an?"

"Yes that's it exactly," the Doctor confirmed and feeling even more at a loss for how she could know about her own future with any sort of detail.

"But if I don't see you for another five years then how do I know these things?" demanded Sarah Jane worried. "The Sonic Screwdriver, the Daleks, and you…how?"

"I wish I knew Sarah Jane. I wish I could give you the answers but I don't have them and it's tearing me up as much as it is you," said the Doctor sadly. "But once we finish all of this madness I will help you. I promise."

"I know Doctor," said Sarah Jane shivering. "Look I'm kind of cold, do you still have your scarf?"

The Doctor nodded as he went to his large closet as Sarah Jane sat there on the verge of tears from having memories that she could not recall experiencing. The Doctor quickly made his way to his closet and sorted through his massive array of clothes before pulling out his old worn scarf and then grabbed his old coat as well before placing his old floppy hat on his head. Hopefully appearing slightly like his fourth incarnation would put Sarah Jane's mind slightly at ease for a little bit.

"Thank you Doctor," said Sarah Jane grateful as she slipped on his old coat and flipped the scarf around her neck. "Nice hat."

"Thanks," said the Doctor running his finger across the brim of it. "I haven't worn a hat in a long time so it is kind of nice to indulge in old patterns for once."

"Well it means a lot to me, thank you," said Sarah Jane vaguely remembering a man she used to know who wore such a hat. "So how's the blood sample going?"

"I'm just about to plug it in to the TARDIS for analysis," answered the Doctor producing the vials and putting them into a tray that popped out.

"Let's see," said the Doctor reading the results. "Wait a minute, I recognize this blood, it's Time Lord!"

"What?" said Sarah Jane shocked. The Doctor was stunned as well before realization dawned on him.

"Oops," he admitted embarrassed. "That's my blood sample that I confiscated earlier."

Sarah Jane laughed as did the Doctor and it helped lighten the mood somewhat.

"Same old Doctor," said Sarah Jane amused as the Doctor placed the right sample in this time.

"Okay, let's try this again," said the Doctor cracking his knuckles and activating the sample analyzer. Sarah Jane meanwhile produced a thermos and a cup and poured herself some coffee.

"I knew it!" the Doctor exclaimed looking at his screen.

"What? Did you find out what is the situation with her blood?" asked Sarah Jane hopeful.

"No," said the Doctor looking at her greatly amused. "I knew it would take awhile, almost 700 years, but I knew I'd get you to make coffee for me one day."

Sarah Jane's expression was priceless at that and the Doctor couldn't help but hunch over the console from laughter.

"You know I have half a mind to splash this on you," Sarah Jane mock threatened while brandishing her thermos. The Doctor lightly shook his head.

"It's just as well that I'm more of a tea drinking kind of man now," the Doctor lamented. "Oh well, back to business."

"What've you got?" asked Sarah Jane interested. The Doctor examined the readouts.

"Well either she's got an extreme mutation in her blood…or she's not human," concluded the Doctor looking very closely at the screen.

"Given all that's going on I would say the latter is the most likely," said Sarah Jane sipping her coffee. "Unless you know why this 'mutation' might be so interesting to a creature that loathes anything different."

"I don't," admitted the Doctor. "So that leaves us with the second option, she's an alien."

"Well she certainly doesn't look it," commented Sarah Jane. The Doctor nodded his head.

"Yes but you'd be surprised how many species out there look human but really aren't," he said. "I mean take me for example. I'm the last Time Lord from Gallifrey but I've been confused for human on many occasions. That's just how it is to those not in the know."

"So what then is she?" asked Sarah Jane. The Doctor pressed some buttons on his console.

"The TARDIS has on file millions of blood types from all sorts of species so I'll run a sample comparison on it," said the Doctor pressing some more buttons.

"And what are you doing with all that blood, are you some kind of Space Vampire, Doctor?" Sarah Jane mockingly accused. "What secrets have you been keeping from me, I demand to know!"

"I'm not going to stand by here and take these insults!" the Doctor said with mock fury as Sarah Jane started laughing. Looking about he flipped the switch that powered up the TARDIS and the central column began moving. But as soon as this happened, a loud shriek filled Sarah Jane's ears and she clasped her hands to them in pain as she collapsed from her chair.

"Sarah Jane!" shouted the Doctor running over to her concerned. Sarah Jane quickly squeezed her eyes shut as along with the shrieking noise, came a multitude of images that flashed through her eyes in rapid succession. The Doctor quickly scanned her with his screwdriver and found a strange link between her and the TARDIS central core time vortex. Acting quickly the Doctor ran over to the control panel and slammed off the time vortex generator and abruptly Sarah Jane stopped moving and collapsed. The Doctor ran over to Sarah Jane and helped her sit up as the young woman finally came to her senses and blinked a few times as she briefly rubbed her eyes.

"Doctor?" she asked softly.

"Yes?" asked the Doctor concerned. Sarah Jane looked up at him confused.

"When did you get back from Gallifrey?" she continued. The Doctor blinked at her bewildered.

"What?" he asked confused. Sarah Jane struggled to stand up and the Doctor helped her sit back on the chair.

"You said you had to go to Gallifrey and that I couldn't come with you," explained Sarah Jane quietly.

"Do you remember what our last conversation was?" asked the Doctor leaning against the controls, the blood sample analysis forgotten and trying to reason his way through this abrupt change in events.

"I asked you not to forget about me," said Sarah Jane with a touch of sadness at the memory.

"And what did I say?" inquired the Doctor.

"You asked me not to forget about you," responded Sarah Jane also a bit saddened at that.

"Sarah Jane, how do you remember me?" asked the Doctor.

"What does that mean?" Sarah Jane demanded upset. "I only traveled with you for the past three years!"

"Sorry bad question," the Doctor apologized as he tried a new approach. "Sarah Jane how old are you?"

"What?" shouted Sarah Jane even more shocked. "Doctor that is not a question you ask a lady!"

The Doctor groaned as he slapped his face in annoyance.

"What I mean to say is, are you twenty years old?" he inquired.

"Why, do I look twenty?" asked Sarah Jane confused as to the Doctor's apparent and unusual attempt at flattery. "Or are you saying I am acting like I'm twenty? In which case…"

"No Sarah Jane," the Doctor interjected trying to reduce the tension in the room. "What I am saying is that you _are_ twenty years old."

The Doctor instantly produced a mirror and gave it to Sarah Jane.

"I hope this will explain your strange behavior," began Sarah Jane.

"Oh it will, trust me," said the Doctor quickly nodding his head. Sarah Jane sighed and looked into the mirror. The image she saw caused her eyes to bug out as she sat there stunned seeing her twenty-year old reflection.

"I-I," she began but found she couldn't get the words to come out.

"Rock Panther got your tongue?" asked the Doctor bemused.

"How?" asked Sarah Jane feeling her face to make sure the image in the mirror was what was really in front of it.

"I'm not quite sure," said the Doctor. "But I'm beginning to draw a theory."

"So did I just…become younger physically?" asked Sarah Jane confused. "Or did I merely have a beauty treatment that would be the envy of the world over?"

The Doctor chuckled at that. "Nothing so complicated unfortunately. Somehow you have memories you shouldn't possess."

"What?" asked Sarah Jane confused.

"What year did I pick you up?" asked the Doctor.

"1973," stated Sarah Jane.

"Do you want to guess what year it is now?" the Doctor inquired. Sarah Jane shook her head.

"1968," finished the Doctor crossing his arms. "And before you ask, no we didn't travel to 1968 _I_ traveled to 1968 where _you_ apparently met _me_ for the first time."

"And what exactly are we doing?" asked Sarah Jane.

"You don't remember?" asked the Doctor concerned. If she had lost her memory since he'd first encountered her a couple of days ago, then this could pose a problem.

"No wait," said Sarah Jane concentrating. "We were looking for a Dalek and it revolved around a woman named Kalenda Sarvod."

"Good so your memory is slowly returning to you," said the Doctor relieved.

"Yeah but it's sort of disorienting," said Sarah Jane. "Here I am concerned with my upcoming test in history but not only do I know all of the answers I've also encountered some of the people in the book! I haven't been this confused since you explained to me how I could understand the alien languages of every creature we encountered."

"Yeah…," said the Doctor before realization dawned on him. "Wait a minute, that's it!"

The Doctor spun around and began working furiously at the console.

"What's it?" said Sarah Jane getting up and watching the Doctor working furiously. After a couple moments, the Doctor nodded his head and shut off the device.

"Do you remember what I said when you asked me how you could understand the alien voices?" asked the Doctor.

"Yeah you said it was 'time lord magic' or some such nonsense," Sarah Jane commented rolling her eyes.

"Well that wasn't exactly true," commented the Doctor tipping his hat back on his head. Had he really worn this thing at one time? It seemed hard to believe.

"Surprise, surprise," commented Sarah Jane mildly.

"Without making it overly complicated, the TARDIS is able to maintain a psychic link through me that allows my companions and others to understand alien languages. What you don't realize is that the connection works both ways. Whenever you enter into the TARDIS, it makes a file of your memories for both its own records as well as in the event that if you were brainwashed or suffered amnesia, the TARDIS would act as the reboot on your brain's hard drive and restore you to normal," explained the Doctor.

"Oh," said Sarah Jane beginning to make sense of it. "So when you encountered me and I had no knowledge of our time together…"

"The TARDIS began to slowly restore your memories as best it could due to the distance. As soon as you entered into the TARDIS and I powered up the time vortex it hit you straight on," stated the Doctor.

"But why didn't it know I hadn't experienced them yet?" inquired Sarah Jane. "Surely there is a failsafe for that type of situation."

"There is," admitted the Doctor. "But when has this old thing ever really worked properly?"

"Ah," said Sarah Jane nodding her head. "So will these memories ever go away?"

"Dunno," said the Doctor.

"Dunno?" asked Sarah Jane nonplussed. The Doctor shrugged helpless.

"Again I could find out more but we have more pressing matters to be concerned about," he said. Sarah Jane nodded.

"Right, so when will the analysis be completed?" asked Sarah Jane. The Doctor ran around the console and checked.

"It really depends, which is why we're going Dalek hunting in the meantime," he stated heading for the exit.

"Just like that?" she asked.

"Just like that," he confirmed. Sarah Jane snorted.

"I guess you really are the Doctor despite the regeneration," she said relieved. The Doctor shrugged.

"The more things change, the more they stay the same," he quipped before looking up at his hat. He wanted to keep the thing on for Sarah Jane's sake but it seemed so out of place with his current style.

"You don't have to wear it if you don't want to," commented Sarah Jane. The Doctor reluctantly took it off.

"I'm sorry Sarah Jane," he confessed. "It's not like I'm not that person it's just…some things do change after 300 some odd years."

Sarah Jane nodded knowing the feeling of how different she felt than her twenty-year old version, both of whom had thoughts conflicting in her head.

"But I tell you what, since you've got almost the whole ensemble why don't you wear it," he offered before placing the oversized hat on her head. The thing nearly covered her eyes before she pushed it back at an angle. The Doctor smiled briefly remembering what he had looked like in those days before a thought occurred to him and he turned sadly insightful.

"What?" asked Sarah Jane concerned. The Doctor sighed.

"You just reminded me of someone I used to know," said the Doctor remembering Romana when she had appeared in an outfit similar to this following her regeneration. "She…died unfortunately during the War."

"The War?" asked Sarah Jane.

"I'll tell you about it some other time," said the Doctor. "But right now there's work to be done."

Sarah Jane nodded and gathered her things as both exited the TARDIS.

Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London: Students were out roaming amongst the buildings enjoying the early morning air when suddenly a massive explosion tore open the front half of the Queen Mary Students' Union. As the nearby students and faculty watched in terror, a slick black object emerged from the smoke and fire and advanced towards them.

"EX-TER-MI-NATE!" Dalek Sec roared as it began firing at everything in sight.

A/N: There is a reason for Sec being there, guess what it is.


	5. Time

A/N: If the details of Queen Mary's college aren't exact, I apologize. I have very limited knowledge about it, just one important fact which is the key to his story. But hey good thing the Whoniverse isn't our universe. evil laugh Also, I just read the plot for _I Am Dalek_, the plots are surprisingly similar but I guarantee you the payoff will be different. I already had a different concept in mind than how that one ended before I read the synopsis for the story. Maybe I need more imaginative ideas.

Streets: The Doctor was looking up at the area where Torchwood Tower would one day be built.

"What're you looking at?" asked Sarah Jane confused.

"Torchwood," commented the Doctor. "It'll be built there in a few years so I was wondering where they are now."

"I've heard of Torchwood," commented Sarah Jane. "I always came across random references to them when I was investigating alien phenomena."

"It's not surprising. Their objective was to secure every piece of alien technology that they could and use it to defend Britain," explained the Doctor.

"Was?" asked Sarah Jane.

"Let's just say in the year 2007 they bit off a bit more than they could chew when the Daleks and Cybermen went to war and subsequently they had to seek new management when the old one was killed," explained the Doctor. "And as a result of that, I am here."

"Ah the adventurous life of a Time Lord," said Sarah Jane bemused.

"Yeah," said the Doctor shaking his head. "I _really_ need a vacation."

"You think you need a vacation, I'm in danger of living my entire life twice," stated Sarah Jane. The Doctor stared at her blankly.

"Time Lord, remember? 1000 plus years experience, ten different bodies," began the Doctor. Before Sarah Jane could respond, an explosion was heard and smoke could be seen rising in the distance.

"Dalek?" she asked.

"Dalek," the Doctor confirmed using his Sonic Screwdriver. The two quickly hailed a cab and soon they were off towards the explosion.

College: Sec rumbled across the college grounds intent on its objective. But before it could get there, the local police and school security guards saw fit to try and halt the Dalek's advances, their bullets were either stopped by Sec's shields or ricocheted off of its polycarbide casing. But it was still frustrating to not be able to deal with them, the travel unit's power supply was severally depleted, and so it was forced to avoid them…for now. So the Dalek accelerated its travel unit and continued on past the officers knowing full well it was only a matter of time before UNIT or the Doctor showed up.

Taxi: "With this late breaking story, the Queen Mary and Westfield College was rocked by an early morning explosion. Witnesses report a strange robot like creature that is purportedly exchanging fire with the local authorities on the scene. More details as they happen…," explained the news report from the radio.

"Wh-," began Sarah Jane. "That's where I go to school!"

"Well it's a small world isn't it," stated the Doctor. "Guess you won't have to worry about that exam now."

"Doctor!" shouted Sarah Jane shocked.

"Sorry," the Doctor apologized. "Gallows Humor became a way of life during the War and some things are hard to let go."

"Doctor, will you please tell me what happened during this 'War'?" Sarah Jane pleaded. The Doctor shook his head.

"I'm sorry Sarah Jane but I don't want you worrying about me any more than you already do," stated the Doctor before noticing her expression. "No argument either."

"Fine," said Sarah Jane letting the subject go for now. "So what exactly happened five years ago then?"

"Five years ago I came to Earth with my first incarnation," began the Doctor. "My TARDIS was damaged and so I spent some time here repairing it. But I also had an ulterior motive for coming to Earth. I was carrying with me a device of incredible power called The Hand of Omega for the sole purpose of hiding it. So I did but then not too long later, Earth Time at least, someone came to collect it and harness its ability to manipulate stars for evil," said the Doctor.

"Who?" asked Sarah Jane.

"Davros," answered the Doctor. Sarah Jane shuddered at that name before a thought occurred to her.

"Wait I thought he was dead," she recalled.

"Evil rarely is," commented the Doctor. "So Davros came seeking the Hand and I arrived with my seventh incarnation to stop him. At the time the Daleks were embroiled in a civil war with those loyal to and those not to Davros and so the two groups were both present on Earth trying to obtain the device. I intervened and made sure that Davros made off with the thing,"

"What? Why?" Sarah Jane asked bewildered.

"Because he didn't realize that I had booby trapped the Hand so that when he activated it, instead of converting Skaro's sun into an energy source for time travel, it instead caused Skaro's sun to go supernova taking Skaro with it before returning and blowing up Davros's ship eliminating his Dalek Faction that allowed for his eventual defeat at the hands of the Daleks," explained the Doctor.

"Doctor how could do something like that!" exclaimed Sarah Jane. "As bad as Skaro was, there were good people living there!"

"It had to be done Sarah Jane," commented the Doctor darkly before turning remorseful. "But in hindsight I think I gave the device to wrong faction."

Sarah Jane was about to ask him what that meant when the cab screeched to a halt.

"End of the line," stated the cab driver looking at the gridlock ahead of him as people were rapidly fleeing in the other direction. The Doctor and Sarah Jane got out amidst the ensuing chaos and looked at each other hesitantly, their discussion over Skaro would have to wait amidst all this devastation.

"Send the bill to UNIT," said the Doctor to the driver before he and Sarah Jane plunged into the chaos.

Campus: The military was just setting up its operations under the command of UNIT when an energy beam tore through the air and blew up one of the convoy vehicles taking it and a pair of nearby police cars with it sending troops and officers scattering everywhere. Across the way, Sec traversed the grounds where students, faculty, and other officers lay scattered everywhere.

"Rocket barrage fire!" shouted Group Captain Gilmore. A group of soldiers lined with RPGs and fired them at the Dalek. The Dalek deftly avoided a pair of them before using its manipulator arm to deftly adjust the trajectory of one of the RPGs so it flew off into the sky and exploded. Sec glanced at the soldiers before turning around and trundling off.

"Next w-," began Gilmore when the Doctor and Sarah Jane showed up.

"What's going on?" asked the Doctor nearly out of breath. Gilmore glanced at the Doctor briefly before making a motion as nearby troops opened fire with high caliber rifles that tore up the area around Sec. The Doctor quickly obtained a pair of binoculars and peered through them towards the Dalek which was steadily advancing towards a large building.

"What could it be after?" asked the Doctor eyeing Sec's damaged casing.

"You're the expert Doctor, you tell me," answered Gilmore as he made some motions and the troops snaked across the grounds towards the retreating travel unit.

"Sec must be searching for a power source to charge up the travel unit," reasoned the Doctor. "But I don't know why he would come here. I mean any electrical outlet could have provided him the necessary access to Britain's energy resources. Do you know why Rachel?"

Dr. Rachel Jensen looked at Gilmore expectantly but the Group Captain just shook his head. But before she could respond, Sarah Jane interrupted her.

"It must be after the reactor," she stated producing a camera and taking a snapshot as Sec fired off another bolt.

"How do you know about that?" demanded Gilmore. "That project is classified!"

"You must be joking," said Sarah Jane dismissively. "Even my 20-year old counterpart knew about it."

Rachel and Group Captain Gilmore were unsure what that meant but the Doctor intervened before they could keep thinking about it.

"Why would Sec want access to a nuclear reactor though?" the Doctor asked.

"Doctor, it's the most powerful energy source on the planet!" exclaimed Rachel.

"Yes but by interstellar standards it's rather crude," stated the Doctor mildly. "I realize it's the best you have on this planet, but if Sec really wanted to quickly power up, he'd just have flown off to the sun. No, there's something more going on here, he needs those reactor rods but I can't figure out why."

"Well even without full power, it's still a danger Doctor," Rachel felt the need to point out.

"Which is why we're going to stop him," said Doctor looking at the old van with the antenna on top that he'd driven five years ago. "And I know how."

"Doctor, it's too dangerous!" Rachel exclaimed as the Doctor circled the vehicle and hopped in.

"No, I will not allow the Time War to continue!" the Doctor exclaimed harshly before calming down. "Besides, Sec cannot do any real damage at the moment in his weakened state. All of those people you think are dead are merely stunned. Sec's beam weapon apparently is only at half-strength if not less. So once I distract him, get those people out of there."

"Right," said Gilmore, not happy about it but acknowledging that it was their only option. The Doctor once again had all the solutions and while it did frustrate him at least he knew them and was on their side. The Doctor meanwhile was sitting in the driver's seat looking over the steering assembly when Sarah Jane appeared next to him.

"The Time War?" she asked before looking at Sec as he hovered up a pair of stairs and advanced towards the main entrance of the research reactor. "The Daleks?"

The Doctor nodded grimly but otherwise said nothing. Sarah Jane always was one of his more capable assistants when it came to putting all the pieces together.

"How?" she asked. The Doctor sighed as he watched Sec blast another security guard that rushed him. Unfortunately at such close range, this guard may have died and the Doctor knew that every moment he wasted was one moment Sec was getting closer to his goal, whatever that was, and that was proven as the Dalek rumbled into the building.

"Do you remember what I said when you mentioned that we had failed in stopping the Daleks?" asked the Doctor. Sarah Jane nodded.

"You said that we hadn't really failed because out of the Daleks actions, something good had to come of it," Sarah Jane recalled. "Why?"

The Doctor used his screwdriver to start up the vehicle before looking at Sarah Jane before looking at her with soulless eyes that chilled her to the bone.

"I was wrong," he stated grimly as Sarah Jane gasped at the implications of that. And then the Doctor hit the gas as the vehicle roared off straight towards the Dalek.

Research Reactor: The doors flew apart from their hinges as Sec burst through them and advanced steadily on the terrified scientists. One of them pulled out a gun and poured round after round at Sec who merely waited there passively as the gun ran out of bullets and Sec's travel unit remained undamaged.

"EX-TER-MI-NATE," said the Dalek as it blasted the scientist off of their feet before turning to the scientists.

"WHO IS THE LEAD SCIENTIST?" it demanded. No one spoke.

"DESIGNATE THE LEAD SCIENTIST OR ALL WILL BE EX-TER-MI-NA-TED!" Sec continued. Again nothing, so Sec chose one of them at random and increased the power to its weapon stalk and fired, killing the scientist. It knew perfectly that its blasts outside had likely not killed anyone but here appearance was everything so it had to convince the scientists it meant business. In the distance its audio devices detected a vehicle rapidly approaching and it knew it had to get this over with shortly.

"I am the lead scientist," said a man finally getting up. Even if the man was not, Sec could at least use his brainwaves to figure out who was so the Dalek rapidly advanced and slammed its manipulator arm into the man's head pinning him against the wall and quickly absorbed his brainwaves. Surprisingly this man _was_ the lead scientist, but then again humans could be both cowards and heroes at the same time. Daleks held no such distinctions and all would die for the cause, one more reason the humans deserved to be exterminated. They were different and that was wrong and that was why the Daleks were superior. Sec finished gleaning the knowledge from the scientist and had barely enough time to spin around and face the doors when the van rushed straight through the doors and into the air before slamming into Sec and crashing him through the wall behind him as the vehicle came to a stop. The Doctor slumped out of the driver's seat and onto the ground a bit disoriented before coming to his senses.

"Get out of here!" he shouted to the scientists as they all ran out the exit as Group Captain Gilmore and some of his troops entered into the building.

"Are you alright Doctor?" inquired Gilmore helping him stand up.

"Fine," said the Doctor before noticing the desiccated corpse nearby. "Who was he?"

"Looks like Wernstrom, the chief scientist," said Gilmore squatting down and looking at the body.

"Fantastic," said the Doctor shaking his head. With those brainwaves Sec would now know this entire place and be able to do with the reactor whatever he wanted. As if in response to this thought a sound identical to a jet engine was heard powering up.

"What is that?" asked Gilmore bewildered. The Doctor's eyes widened.

"Get down!" he shouted as he tackled Gilmore. Time seemed to slow down as an eerie silence filled the air for a few moments. And then a deafening energy blast was heard that vaporized the van, the soldiers who were still standing, and it raced across the courtyard outside, taking out soldiers and civilians still being rescued, when it slammed into the building beyond it and left a massive gaping hole in it and the next three buildings behind it. The Doctor looked up trying to shake the cobwebs from his head and the intense ringing from the sound of that blast when Sec appeared from the smoke emanating from the gaping hole it had created with several nuclear rods attached to its travel unit. It glanced down at the fallen Doctor and both locked eyes before the Dalek's vocal lights lit up four times and then Sec blasted off into the sky leaving a streak of blue behind it, indicating the amount of power it now wielded.

"Sarah Jane!" shouted the Doctor running out into the destruction. Smoke and soot permeated the air as the Doctor tore through it, coughing heavily as he began searching the bodies.

"Sarah Jane!" shouted the Doctor again as he threatened to pass out from the lack of oxygen.

"Doctor," said a voice weakly. The Time Lord quickly advanced on a nearby body, helping Sarah Jane sit up who had been completely covered in dust.

"Are you okay?" asked the Doctor concerned.

"Fine," coughed Sarah Jane weakly. "Well Doctor you always did know how to show a girl a good time."

The Doctor briefly grinned before looking sadly at the devastation around them.

"Is this what happened during the Time War?" asked Sarah Jane. The Doctor nodded grimly.

"At times it did and only if we were lucky," he said. "Usually just straight up battles were rather rare but to explain just what it was that actually did happen would likely take the rest of your natural born life just to grasp the basics."

"So why don't you call in assistance from some other Time Lords?" asked Sarah Jane knowing fully well the truth. The Doctor's expression caused her to nod her head in condolence.

"Shame I never got to see Gallifrey," she said as the Doctor helped her up.

"Even before it got destroyed there was really nothing to see," commented the Doctor as the two of them trudged through the scene of destruction.

"So what's the plan?" asked Sarah Jane.

"Do you think you can get us into the nearest Reuters building?" asked the Time Lord.

"I suppose so," said Sarah Jane. "Though it might be kind of hard to answer any questions if we're stopped, I'm not exactly the same age I was when I started working there. I'm younger!"

"Oh what a tangled web we weave," commented the Doctor. "No come on, I don't want UNIT finding us. I've gotten them into enough trouble as it is."

The two vanished into the haze.

Elsewhere: In a darkened room, rats scurried everywhere before a bright filled the area causing them all to flee. The Dalek Sec entered into the dank basement with light emitting from the various globes on the lower part of its travel unit and steadily advanced towards a strange device in the corner of the room. The device was easily as high as the travel unit and was a central column with a massive ring in front of it. Sec trundled to the rear of the device and used its manipulator arm on an access port of the device and scanned it. The device was nearly completed, the Dalek had been forced to scrounge for parts in local junkyards when it hadn't been testing Kalenda, and had in fact been partially using the girl as a cover for its construction.

…The girl. Sec had no idea how she had found her way to this world, a world the Doctor so greatly coveted, but she was here now and her presence had somehow drawn it to this particular time and place. At first the Dalek was unsure as to what her importance was. It had known that the child had been used earlier by the Daleks still loyal to the true Emperor and not Davros but it did not know why. The fact that she had been compatible with their battle computer hinted at her true nature but that still was not conclusive evidence. So when not scavenging for parts, Sec had watched her and drew data on the child and protec…allowed her to live to continue the observation process, and finally reached the conclusion he had strongly suspected was the truth. All the while it continued building the device and in only a couple of days had achieved what some would consider 'remarkable' progress on it. But to a Dalek it was merely being efficient. Daleks did not sleep, Daleks did not eat, Daleks exterminated. And so it would finish the device, achieve its mission, and continue on the Dalek mission to 'conquer and destroy'.

And it would exterminate the _Ka Faraq Gatri_.

Reuters: "But I don't understand," said Sarah Jane as they entered into the local Reuters building. "If that Dalek had you at its mercy why didn't it just kill you?"

"If I was a regular Time Lord it would," stated the Doctor. "But I'm not just an ordinary Time Lord. I'm the one who started the Time War. They can't just kill me for that, they have to humiliate and torture me first. Then when I'm begging for mercy they'll kill me."

"_You_ started the Time War?" said Sarah Jane amazed. "When?"

"First when we were assigned the task of stopping the Daleks before they were created and I only halted it. The Daleks didn't take too kindly to this pre-emptive strike and vowed to destroy the Time Lords then and there," began the Doctor. "And then after negotiations broke down between the Time Lords and the Daleks and war became inevitable I fired the opening salvo of the War by rigging the Hand of Omega to blow up Skaro."

Sarah Jane tried hard to digest this information and wonder what had happened to the Doctor since he had had last seen her. The two continued through the building unopposed as everyone their just assumed the two worked there given Sarah Jane's knowledge of the building.

"But I don't understand Doctor," said Sarah Jane struggling with the locked Records Room upon which the Doctor promptly used his sonic screwdriver on it unlocking the door. The two entered into the room with all of its file cabinets as the Doctor locked the door again and Sarah Jane flipped on a nearby lamp.

"There's not much that can be understood about the Daleks," commented the Doctor lightly.

"No I mean earlier when you said you thought you'd given the Hand to the wrong faction," Sarah Jane recalled as she began looking amongst the various cabinets.

"Oh that," said the Doctor dismissively. "I wouldn't worry about it, the event is in the past nothing can change it now."

"Well in that case can you tell me what it is I'm looking for?" began Sarah Jane.

"Anything involving high end scientific equipment that's gone missing lately," said the Doctor. "Sec has to be building something to be powered by those rods and I want to know what it is before I have to confront it. I've made that mistake too many times in the past of not knowing my enemy and it nearly ended in disaster with the Genesis Ark. I'm not making a mistake like that again."

"Very well Doctor," said Sarah Jane not knowing what the Genesis Ark was. "And in the meantime you can answer my earlier question."

The Doctor groaned. "Why is it so important to you?"

"_You're_ important to me Doctor," responded Sarah Jane still rummaging through the files. "And this War clearly was a major part of your life and I want to know what happened," and then upon noticing the Doctor's expression. "Besides, it will the pass the time."

"Very well," the Doctor relented sitting on a nearby desk. "I told you about the two warring Dalek factions didn't I?"

"That's right, something about Davros and a civil war," Sarah Jane commented.

"That's right," said the Doctor knowing not to be impressed. Sarah Jane rarely forgot a detail no matter how minute and it had come in handy in more cases than one. "When Davros came back the Dalek race split in two with those who felt they should be loyal to him and those to the Emperor. Naturally given the Dalek's intrinsic sense of self-superiority over others they immediately went to war with each other. They fought and fought throughout time and space often devastating entire worlds. But despite it all, the Daleks loyal to the Emperor continued to draw plans against my people. The High Council back on Gallifrey came to the conclusion that we had to make a stand and side with the Daleks loyal to the Emperor as an attempt to make amends for our earlier actions in attempting to halt the Dalek's creation. So they sent me to go and use the Hand of Omega against Davros in the hopes that the Daleks would appreciate our actions and leave us alone."

"And did they?" asked Sarah Jane knowing fully well that they wouldn't but just trying to show she was keeping up with the conversation even while yanking out various folders from the cabinets.

"No if anything it made them angrier," commented the Doctor. "We solved their problem and in turn made it seem like they were indebted to us. The Daleks were outright furious and declared that my actions had precipitated a Time War between our races. They only concession on their part was they agreed to capture and eliminate the Master for us who had been a thorn in both our sides. They did so, gave him back to me, an adventure and a regeneration later, I arrived back on Gallifrey and then the War erupted."

"And you think that the normal Daleks should've gotten the Hand?" asked Sarah Jane looking at him.

"Maybe," surmised the Doctor. "As bad as Davros was at least he wasn't as keen on exterminating every living thing in the universe. Plus he made mistakes. The regular Daleks did neither and so they exterminated countless races and worlds during the War. So if I had given the Hand to the Daleks maybe things would've been better maybe worse…but I'll never know."

"I wouldn't worry about it after all you can't change the past," began Sarah Jane before realizing her predicament. "Can you?"

"No, you can't, not anymore," said the Doctor sadly. "But you're right I have to worry about what's happening now and what it is Sec is up to."

"So is the girl a red herring?" asked Sarah Jane finally acquiring the necessary files.

"I don't think so," said the Doctor shaking his head. "Sec's made his presence known by contacting her and Daleks often work in the shadows when achieving secret objectives. She must be important for him to have done that."

"So then what is she?" asked Sarah Jane taking a seat with the Doctor. "One of your army friends said she'd been hooked to a battle computer do you think this Dalek is planning to do that again?"

"No," said the Doctor shaking his head as Sarah Jane began spreading the various police reports around the desk. "Not with only one Dalek and not with Sec. In fact I'm not even sure why the Daleks needed the thing in the first place."

"Another mystery Doctor?" said Sarah Jane lightly. The Doctor laughed lightly.

"Not a chance. I don't need to know nor want to know," he responded. "Now what's missing?"

"You tell me," said Sarah Jane pointing at the documents. The Doctor looked through them.

"Interesting," he said after awhile.

"That's it?" said Sarah Jane confused. "Interesting? What's being built?"

"Well Sarah Jane I can think of a million things that could be built with this stuff," explained the Doctor.

"So narrow it down to what a Dalek would need," stated Sarah Jane.

"Okay, make that a thousand things that could be built with this stuff," said the Doctor amused.

"Well since you know the Daleks so well what would Sec want?" asked Sarah Jane. "Daleks want to conquer and destroy, is it a weapon?"

"It could be but I doubt it," said the Doctor. "You saw what Sec pulled off back at the campus, what would he need a new weapon for?"

"Okay that narrows it down," said Sarah Jane as the Doctor nodded. "What about that thing the Dalek had earlier, some kind of Ark?"

"No that thing got sucked back into the Void along with the rest of the Daleks," said the Doctor dismissively.

"Void?" asked Sarah Jane confused.

"The space between dimensions," the Doctor clarified. "Virtually impossible to breach."

"You sure?" asked Sarah Jane doubtful.

"Well I did breach it a few times and then the Daleks crashed through it with a Void Ship," said the Doctor. "Why?"

"Well I was thinking that maybe the Dalek was looking for reinforcements and if this 'Void' is the place to find them…," began Sarah Jane. The Doctor looked at her with growing concern in his eyes. Travel between universes was impossible but the Daleks had done it on purpose when the Time Lords had long dismissed the idea. If Sec was going to drag Daleks out of the Void then they would all be in trouble. But was it possible? The Doctor quickly scanned over the various stolen items and did a large amount of calculations in his head.

"Rassilon!" he shouted standing up quickly feeling cold to the bone.

"It is isn't it?" said Sarah Jane wishing she'd been wrong.

"We've got to go now!" the Doctor shouted dragging her out of the room.

Elsewhere: Sec finished plugging in the nuclear rods to the Dimensional Vortex Inducer and the device slowly came to life. The Dalek nodded in approval before turning to the exit.

"_Only one more component is required, the female Kalenda Savrod_," it thought as it vanished into the sky.


	6. Lords

London: Kalenda strode through the city alone after splitting ways with her parents after they'd had her released despite UNIT's attempts to let her stay. When she had been in that police station she had tapped into that power source the Dalek had shown her earlier and with it came memories she couldn't place. She saw herself as a young child, darting amongst the wreckage of a war torn landscape as laser blasts and explosions rocked the area around her. Hiding behind a torn stone wall, she witnessed two opposing forces clash around her each cutting down the other with no regard for even their well being. In the distance, large mushroom clouds could be seen rising high above them adding more dirt and smoke to the already permanently darkened sky. She crouched in pure terror as the explosions and the sounds of death encroached all around her. Kalenda screamed as an explosion threw her off of her feet and she went skidding across the ground.

Then an eerie silence fell over the battlefield.

The two sides stopped fighting and listened as in the distance the explosions slowly stopped. Kalenda slowly stood up as in the distance, dome shaped objects could be seen approaching. The soldiers looked at each other with apprehension before all opened fire on these creatures. But it was no use, they kept coming. Soon the creatures began firing on the soldiers and both sides were being taken down piece by piece. Eventually heavy ordinance was used but it was no match either. As smoke filled the grounds, Kalenda coughed heavily as more lasers came from the smoke and into the smoke. And then as she watched in terror, three Daleks emerged from the smoke, headed by a black one, and all opened fire. One noticed her and aimed its silver weapons stalk at her.

"EX-TER-MI-NATE!" it shouted and fired as Kalenda screamed.

Snap to the present and Kalenda found herself standing outside the I.M. Foreman Scrapyard. She instinctively knew this place and not just because she walked past it every day on her way to school. Images again began flooding her head from five years ago of events that until now had been a mystery to her. She saw Daleks fighting Daleks, strange transports landing from above, explosions occurring left and right, a woman slightly older than her with a leather jacket that she was chasing, more explosions, and then a man with a white jacket over a shirt with question marks on it along with a small hat atop his head. She knew this man, he was called The Doctor and the Daleks considered him an enemy though she wasn't sure why. They just hated each other and always would. But something the black Dalek had said earlier rung in her head. The Dalek had called her temporary teacher, Doctor, as well. But they couldn't have been the same person…could they? They did share some similar mannerisms and an underlying dark aggressive nature that seemed to manifest itself around the Daleks. Now she was even more confused and completely without answers and it was making her more frustrated and upset. Electricity began manifesting itself from her clenched fists and she willed herself to calm down or risk drawing unwanted attention to herself. The electricity died down and Kalenda breathed a sigh of relief…which instantly evaporated when Dalek Sec emerged from the scrapyard.

"Not now," she said annoyed. "What do you want?"

"YOU WILL ACCOMPANY," said the Dalek advancing towards her.

"Not until you answer some questions," she stated crossing her arms.

"DALEKS DO NOT TAKE ORDERS," stated Sec.

"Then you're out of luck," Kalenda replied harshly. The Dalek raised its weapons stalk at her.

"ACCOMPANY OR BE EX-TER-MI-NA-TED," it threatened. Kalenda rolled her eyes.

"You need me alive so you won't kill me," she stated before holding up her right fist as electricity shot out of it. "But if you want a fight then that's fine with me!"

Sec eyed her quizzically before firing and Kalenda slumped to the ground unconscious. The Dalek advanced towards her when an explosion ripped through the scrapyard. Sec rotated its eyestalk looking for the cause of the destruction when it noticed the Ka Faraq Gatri standing next to his TARDIS with the sonic screwdriver in his hands. Next to him was a younger female who actually registered in the databanks as Sarah Jane Smith, an individual who had been present when the Daleks had been unleashed on the universe. The memory served only to infuriate itself as the Doctor had launched his pre-emptive strike against them and temporarily halted their creation.

"You're not going anywhere Sec," stated the Doctor. Sec didn't respond it merely fired off a shot at him, which was stopped by the forcefield being project by the TARDIS. The Dalek knew the shot wouldn't prove effective but it did cause the human to jump at least. The Doctor just stood there unmoving, uncaring.

"I know what you're up to," said the Doctor. Sec knew the Doctor would eventually figure out what he was up to, which was why he had to decided to accelerate his plans by obtaining the rods.

"YOU HAVE NO WAY TO STOP ME," stated the Dalek.

"Don't be so sure," said the Doctor coldly. "Us Time Lords are more resourceful than you realize."

"YES," Sec acknowledged to the Doctor's surprise. "DURING THE FINAL BATTLE OF THE TIME WAR."

The Doctor's mood turned sullen at that comment as he glared at the Dalek. The Dalek meanwhile hovered directly over Kalenda's fallen form before facing the Doctor and Sarah Jane.

"TEL-E-PORT," it stated and both vanished from sight. The Doctor turned and ran into the TARDIS with Sarah Jane entering right after him. The Doctor ran to the console and began pressing buttons as he tried to scan for where the Dalek had vanished off to.

"Sarah Jane I don't think I'll be able to ensure your safety where we're going," said the Doctor concerned.

"You've said that way too often Doctor and we've made it through each time," said Sarah Jane confidently. "Now won't be any different."

"Like old times," said the Doctor nodding lightly as he continued searching for where Sec had gone off to. As he was doing this, a buzzer sounded.

"What was that?" asked Sarah Jane.

"The blood sample is done," said the Doctor ominously. Sarah Jane advanced towards the display a bit hesitantly.

"Well don't leave me in suspense Sarah Jane," said the Doctor temporarily halting his work. Sarah Jane pulled the monitor over and read the results.

"Oh my God," she said in shock.

Darkened Room: A wave of water splashed Kalenda in the face as she began coughing. As she groggily came to, she noticed Sec nearby with a bucket hanging off of its manipulator arm. She growled angrily as electricity once again began rolling off of her body.

"Any energy you fire will come into contact with the water already on your body and electrocute you," said Sec passively. Kalenda immediately got up and fired off more electrical jolts before slowly quieting down.

"So what do you want?" she said crossing her arms.

"Place your hands on the device," said Sec pulling back and revealing the oddly shaped device with two crescent shaped metallic objects adoring the front of it with an oddly shaped metallic column in the background providing support for it.

"Is this why you've been putting me through hell?" Kalenda demanded. "Just so I can activate some device and then you can kill me?"

The Dalek looked away from her as if ashamed at her statements.

"Why have you been constantly confronting me?" pleaded Kalenda. "Why can I shoot electricity from my body? Why do I have these nightmarish visions of a war on some planet I don't recognize? What am I?!?"

"Skaro," was all the Dalek said with a hint of sadness still not looking at her.

"What?" asked Kalenda softly.

"The planet was called Skaro," said Sec even sadder than before as its eyestalk drooped even lower. Kalenda remained silent at that, something about that name resonated with her.

"Why do I know about it?" asked Kalenda helpless.

"Because it's where you're from," stated another voice from the darkness. Sec glanced upwards immediately as Kalenda spun around to see the Doctor standing at the top of a small staircase running horizontal to them with his hands on the railing. Sec's weaponstalk quickly homed in on the Doctor when suddenly Sarah Jane appeared and fired the device that the Doctor had given to her earlier. The strange beam of energy slammed into Sec who merely stood there un-phased. It then fired its energy beam at the Doctor but nothing happened. Sec waved its gunstalk annoyed before looking back up at the Doctor.

"THIS ACCOMPLISHES LITTLE, DOCTOR!" it roared as it prepared to advance on the Time Lord. …And then it found it couldn't move.

"Yes I've noticed," said the Doctor mildly as Sec simmered in its travel unit and quickly began rebooting the device's systems. "But let's continue on with this conversation. She does deserve to know the truth."

"So what am I?" demanded Kalenda.

"You're a Kaled," said the Doctor.

"A what?" asked Kalenda bewildered.

"You're from a planet called Skaro. On that planet there were two races, the Thals and the Kaleds. They went to war on their planet, a war without end, and in the end destroyed the ecosystem of their planet while severally mutating themselves. One Kaled named Davros decided to accelerate the mutations for the Kaleds and in doing so combined their forms with travel units and Sec here is the end result," said the Doctor pointing to the Dalek. "One of many all of whom are now gone."

"I know you don't I?" accused Kalenda of the Doctor.

"Yes, we met five years ago," the Doctor admitted. "Back then the Daleks were using you for their battle computer. I didn't know why they'd pick you out of all the people in London but now I know that it's because of your origins that made you compatible with the computer. It was built by Kaleds to work with Kaled brain signatures."

"Then what became of my world?" said Kalenda.

"It was destroyed," answered the Doctor as Sarah Jane looked away slightly ashamed. Kalenda looked up at him with anger flashing past her eyes.

"You destroyed it, didn't you?" she accused angrily.

"Yes," said the Doctor sadly as his face dropped. "I did."

"A crime which you will pay for, Ka Faraq Gatri," commented Sec bitterly as it continued rebooting the unit's systems.

"Come now," said the Doctor. "You destroyed Gallifrey, don't forget that."

"No," said Sec shaking its 'head'. "_You_ destroyed Gallifrey, Doctor."

The Doctor's eyes raged with fire at that statement as Sarah Jane looked at him wide-eyed taken aback by that statement.

"That is why _you_ are the Destroyer of Worlds, not the Daleks," commented Sec. "WHICH IS WHY YOU WILL BE EX-TER-MI-NA-TED!"

The Dalek attempted to fire its beam weapon at the Doctor but still nothing. It then extended its manipulator arm as far as it would go and slowly moved along the ground towards the Doctor as the Doctor in turn leapt over the railing and walked towards the Dalek. Until both of them were standing across from each other with Kalenda in between them and the strange device right in front of her.

"So what's it going to be," began the Doctor.

"Him or me?" finished Sec. The rage passing between the two aliens was beginning to electrify the room.

"And that is?" asked Kalenda of the device.

"Something to bring back more Daleks like him," stated the Doctor. "And since I won't activate it that only leaves you. So what's it going to be?"

Kalenda looked at both of them shocked before rage filled her eyes.

"I don't see any reason to trust either of you!" she shouted. "I'm just a pawn in your sick and twisted game. You can both go to hell for all I care!"

"We've both been there and back so what's it going to be?" said the Doctor unapologetic. Kalenda growled as her fists clenched tightly together and electricity erupted from them.

"I say neither of you!" she shouted as she fired blasts at both of them. The Doctor was flung off his feet and into the far wall while Sec went crashing into the wall on the other side. Sarah Jane ran to the Doctor's side and helped him sit up as lightly wisps of smoke arose from his burnt clothes.

"You two are both menaces to everyone and everything around you," said Kalenda angry. "And I want you to leave me alone so here's my compromise. _You_ want your Daleks back, fine. Here they come!"

"No," said the Doctor helpless as Kalenda slapped her hand on the device and it powered to life. A flux of energy erupted from between the two crescent spheres and a wormhole emerged. Out of the wormhole, three Daleks appeared and exited from the device as more could be seen in the background.

"And _you_ want this device destroyed? Fine by me!" shouted Kalenda. Kalenda used her electricity on the device and it exploded flinging debris everywhere.

"Now if I see any of you ever again I'll kill you, is that understood?" demanded Kalenda. The Doctor and the Daleks remained silent.

"Good. All I wanted was to know who I was and where I came from and from what I've found out, ignorance really is bliss," said Kalenda and then she stormed out of the basement of the Coal Hill School. Sarah Jane helped the Doctor to his feet and found himself facing the reunited Cult of Skaro. Dalek Thay, Dalek Jast, and Dalek Caan all took up a defensive position around the barely operation Dalek Sec. They all aimed their weapons at the Doctor who aimed his Sonic Screwdriver at them.

"NO!" stated Dalek Sec surprising them all. "THE BATTLE HAS ENDED. IT IS TIME TO LEAVE."

The Daleks looked at the Doctor and then back at Sec confused before they all nodded their eyestalks.

"WE O-BEY," they stated and the three of them vanished leaving Sec alone with the Doctor and Sarah Jane.

"We will meet again Doctor and the next time I shall not be so hesitant," stated Sec and then it vanished as well. The Doctor was left alone in the cold dark basement in silence as the occasional drop of water could be heard in the dank basement. Sarah Jane looked at him with saddened eyes before she slowly left the Doctor behind.

Later: The Doctor trudged slowly through the streets of London in silence before reaching his TARDIS. He hadn't seen Sarah Jane at all since she'd left him in the basement and deep down he found he couldn't blame her for her actions. Though the Doctor had vainly hoped he could once again become the man she had known all those years ago, he really was no longer that person. He'd said it before, when he was younger had had so much mercy but after years of dealing with things like this it had been slowly stripped of him. Sighing heavily he entered into the TARDIS and locked the door behind him. Turning around, he headed over to his console and began powering it up when he noticed her sitting there.

"Hello Sarah Jane," said the Doctor with his head down not being able to face her.

"What happened, Doctor?" said Sarah Jane, still wearing the ensemble of his fourth personage. "What happened to the John Smith I knew?"

"I don't know Sarah Jane, I really don't," answered the Doctor sadly. "He's still a part of me but it seems that he's getting smaller and smaller as time goes on."

"Well you'd better make sure he doesn't disappear completely," said Sarah Jane angry. "The universe needs you Doctor, perhaps now more than ever if the Time Lords are really gone, and you have to stop being this.. 'madman'," she spat out. "Who uses others as a means to an end and who has this monomaniacal fixation on the Daleks!"

"I know," said the Doctor defeated as he slumped into the chair behind him. "I know. It's just…my people…!"

"You're still alive Doctor, that has to count for something," Sarah Jane pointed out. "I don't know what happened during this war of yours, but if there's one thing you taught me it's that things happen for a reason. You are alive Doctor make something of that. Don't go getting yourself killed for not being able to let go of the past. Live life; go see a play by Shakespeare, go to Mars, explore history, but don't go chasing ghosts."

"Especially if they're from Mars, right Sarah Jane?" asked the Doctor amused. Sarah Jane smiled briefly at that before grabbing a hold of the Doctor's hand.

"For my sake as well as yours, okay?" Sarah Jane pleaded. The Doctor nodded and clasped his hand over hers before pulling her into a hug. Not a hug for intimacy, but a hug for reassurance. Eventually they let go and they looked at each other as if everything had became right again in the universe.

"I don't think you ever hugged me before Doctor," Sarah Jane realized.

"Oh I promise you it was for a very good reason," said the Doctor as he held up a bag of confections that he'd retrieved from his old coat Sarah Jane was still wearing.

"Ugh," said Sarah Jane rolling her eyes as she shoved him back as the Doctor laughed. "You and those damned Jelly Babies."

"Hey!" protested the Doctor. "Nobody makes fun of the Jelly Baby! So, do you want one?"

Sarah Jane groaned lightly and reached into the bag to retrieve one and ate it as the Doctor poured the rest into his mouth.

"Manners Doctor!" said Sarah Jane. The Doctor smiled while chewing the treat.

"Can't help it, I haven't had it in several incarnations," the Doctor said with his mouth completely stuffed. The two of them laughed mischievously as only old friends could and then silence descended on them both.

"Well, I'd better get going, lives to save and all that," said the Doctor.

"I don't suppose I could come with you?" asked Sarah Jane. "Life just seems so mundane when you're not around."

"I almost wish you could," the Doctor admitted. "Though I will admit the idea is tempting, I…I just can't."

"Why not?" asked Sarah Jane slightly hurt.

"Because you said it yourself, I have to move on," said the Doctor. "Not that I think of you as tying me down, but I need to begin a fresh start. Besides, the great thing is, is that in five years we'll have our adventures all over again!"

"I'm looking forward to it," said Sarah Jane enthusiastically. "…But am I still going to remember them all before they've happened."

"Ah, no," said the Doctor shaking his head. "When the TARDIS leaves so too will your new memories fade within a couple of days."

"And here I thought I could use my knowledge to ace all my upcoming exams," said Sarah Jane wistfully. The Doctor laughed.

"I'm afraid not," he said. "I remember as a young Time Lord trying to contact a future version of myself as part of a quantum mechanics experiment. I was trying to contact myself to get access to my project so I wouldn't have to build it. In the end I actually wound up building the project I was trying to get my hands on and ended up failing the project because I was violating Time Lord rules," said the Doctor bemused before looking at Sarah Jane's bewildered expression. "I lost you didn't I? I'm sorry. It would make sense to a Time Lord, though."

"Yeah you lost me, but it wouldn't be the first time," said Sarah Jane shrugging it off. She'd gotten the gist of it least. "Still, I feel bad for the girl."

"As do I," said the Doctor nodding his head. "A Kaled… After all these years I wouldn't have thought it possible."

"How did she get here?" asked Sarah Jane.

"Dunno," admitted the Doctor. "I guess when the Daleks began exterminating the Kaleds and the Thals, it was decided that for their race to survive they'd have to resort to extreme measures and send themselves into space. But it's all guesswork. Either way, the girl had to have fallen through time which was why she was able to power the dimensional vortex inducer."

"But what's going to happen to her?" asked Sarah Jane. "I don't want to loose my memories of her if her life goes to pieces over this."

"Let's take a look shall we?" said the Doctor as he pulled up the monitoring and began working on his console. Sarah Jane walked over and looked at the monitor.

"You can do things like this?" asked Sarah Jane impressed.

"Absolutely, I'm a Time Lord," the Doctor scoffed. "Though I don't often do it, I mean I like my mysteries. If I looked up everyone's profile on the TARDIS, that'd hardly make life exciting now, would it?"

"I guess not," Sarah Jane admitted. "Am I in there?"

"You, Harry, Romana, Ace, Peri, Nyssa, Adric, everyone," said the Doctor progressing through the various screens on the monitor trying to locate Kalenda Savrod's bio. "That's what happens when you have the time vortex contained in your old blue box."

"Oh," said Sarah Jane also at a loss. "So what happens to her then?"

"Let's see," said the Doctor scrolling through the Ks.

"Wait," said Sarah Jane abruptly stopping the Doctor. "Go back to that last one."

The Doctor scrolled backwards and an image of a gray robotic dog appeared with the word 'K-9' emblazoned at the top.

"I know that dog," said Sarah Jane mystified as she placed her hand on the screen. "But…how?"

"That I can't explain," stated the Doctor. "You do know him, but you've never been back in the TARDIS since you two first met."

"Oh," said Sarah Jane hesitantly. "So we don't meet again do we Doctor?"

The Doctor sighed. "We do, and we also manage to part on amicable terms, it's just that…it's always hard to say goodbye to a companion."

"It's not always easy to say goodbye to a Doctor either," Sarah Jane agreed. The Doctor finally made it to Kalenda Savrod's name.

"Wait, shouldn't this be alphabetized based on last name?" asked Sarah Jane.

"Broken TARDIS remember?" said the Doctor shaking his head in shame. "I'll get it fixed, I promise!"

"Yeah along with that chameleon circuit," said Sarah Jane rolling her eyes.

"I'm a Time Lord, I can afford to have a couple centuries worth of backlog!" stated the Doctor boldly and then more silently. "…And the temporal grace circuit shorted out as well."

"Wonderful," said Sarah Jane throwing her hands up in defeat.

"Well at least I got the chameleon circuit running again!" the Doctor shot back.

"Did you now?" said Sarah Jane disbelieving him.

"And then it broke again," the Doctor grumbled.

"That's it," said Sarah Jane. "I'm not leaving until we fix something on this TARDIS!"

"I know!" said the Doctor enthusiastically as he shot up.

"What?" Sarah Jane asked.

"The coffeemaker's been broken for the past 150 years, let's fix that!" said the Doctor with a huge grin on his face. Sarah Jane simmered at that statement.

"Doctor, know this. I am younger and more prone to violence which is why I'm about to do this," said Sarah Jane before she drilled him in the shoulder. The Doctor feigned crying at her actions before laughing heavily as Sarah Jane found herself unable to resist and joined in as well.

"Now then, Ms. Sarvod," said the Doctor returning to business. "Well, it looks like she becomes quite the outspoken anti-non-human spokesperson. Often attending non-human rallies and denouncing them for willing to undermine Earth security. Then it appears she was hired by Torchwood in the early 1980s and that's where my records end."

"I guess it could be worse," Sarah Jane admitted. The Doctor nodded. Silence fell on the two of them.

"I guess this is goodbye," said Sarah Jane sadly as she fought back a tear.

"As someone once wiser than me once said. 'This is not the end, it is a fabulous new beginning'," the Doctor quoted. "We will meet again Sarah Jane, I promise you."

"I _know_ we will, Doctor," Sarah Jane swore. The two smiled at that and the two began slowly moving towards the doors. The Doctor opened it up and the two looked out at the clear afternoon day.

"I suppose you'll be wanting these back," said Sarah Jane shifting to take off the coat, scarf, and hat.

"Oh, you can keep them Sarah Jane," said the Doctor.

"Really?" asked Sarah Jane surprised.

"Absolutely," the Doctor promised. "I know they'll be safe with you and if I ever need them back I'll know where to look. It'll certainly be faster than looking through my wardrobe upstairs."

"Thank you, Doctor," said Sarah Jane as she stepped outside.

"No worries then Sarah Jane," said the Doctor happily.

"No worries," said Sarah Jane trying to maintain a smile despite her eyes welling up with tears. The two hugged one last time and then Sarah Jane walked off into the distance before Sarah Jane turned around.

"One final request Doctor," she asked.

"Hmm?" asked the Doctor looking up at her.

"Do you think I can get a Sonic Screwdriver one day?" Sarah Jane asked. The Doctor nodded his head.

"You will I promise," he said. "Maybe it will help you in your investigations one day."

Then the Doctor smiled one last time and vanished into the TARDIS. Sarah Jane watched it slowly start to disappear before it shot off high into the sky.

"Goodbye Doctor," said Sarah Jane happily as she tipped his old hat back on her head and found herself skipping away humming an old tune, something she hadn't done in years.


End file.
